The Duel That Spans Dimensions
by Seeker of the Soul
Summary: Two duelists of different types from vastly different backgrounds meet to do battle not as enemies or as friends, but simply as duelists. A for fun fic that uses a few characters from Wolf General's stories and from mine. Enjoy the dueling!
1. Default Chapter

Author's Notes: This story is just something I'm doing for fun, and will be relatively short as it's just a single duel story. Because I'm a fan of Wolf General's Demon Duelist Legacy series, and his newest fic, I decided (with his permission) that I'd do a duel fic between one of his main duelists and one of mine from my own series. If you haven't read either it doesn't really matter, as there isn't much need to have a back-story with this. It's just cool dueling. So read and enjoy. 

**The Duel That Spans Dimensions**

_Prologue: The Challenge Is Made_

Rikuo Amero had been through some strange things in his lifetime. Both of them in fact. He had also been through many deadly challenges, battles, duels, everything. He had faced vicious demons, insane humans, twisted soul haunted freaks of nature that wanted to wipe out all of humanity. Actually he'd faced more than one of those, but most particularly Kilomet Sestros came to mind. He'd also saved the world from a ten thousand year old mage intent on destroying the entire universe.

So when he found himself in a situation where it looked like he didn't stand a chance of winning, he took a little time to think back about his life. Despite the challenges he had braved and the incredible skill as a gamer that he possessed, he found himself unable to win in this one situation. "Damn it! I swear it's the claws!"

Jamming the buttons with his fingers the wolf-demon bit his lip and focused intently on the screen, watching as his burly wolf creature was beaten senseless by a female ninja. It was only a few more moments before the K.O. was delivered and he had lost the game. "Stupid fighting game. In a real fight I could take both of those freaks in a real game, and you too!"

The smirking figure next to him was an attractive female fox-demon who had been controlling the female ninja. The game was called Killer Instinct and this was the tenth game in a row that he had lost to her. "Face it Rikuo, you suck at these fighting games. Stick to something you suck marginally less at, like dueling for instance."

"What? I've beaten every opponent I've ever faced at Duel Monsters, even you!" Despite his anger, it was all in fun. After all, as his mate Jasmine liked to mess with his head more than she had before they got involved. Somewhere in his mind it occurred to him that she was doing this just for the purpose of having them exchange a kiss of forgiveness.

Moving forwards with a predatory gleam in his eye the wolf readied himself to make his move. He pounced, and quickly found himself on the floor, with Jasmine standing about six feet away. She had jumped just in time to avoid him. "Sorry, but I can't play now. Beating you all those times has taken up a bit of free time I had, and now I've got to get started on dinner."

Grumbling the wolf-demon duelist plopped himself down on the couch and started flicking channels. His super-human vision (only super-human because he wasn't human) caught a very specific image that interested him. A figure with a DD2 on his arm, and another across from him. A duel. "At least there's something good on TV, a tournament."

However his happiness at having found something to watch was cut short when he realized that the two duelist's disks had just shut down, and one of them had no life points left. The duel had ended, and from the cheers that he could hear coming from the audience on the TV it had been an exciting duel. "I always miss the good parts."

The camera moved to focus on the winning duelist, a tall human with reddish brown hair and violet eyes and handsome features. He wore a gray vest over a simple red shirt and held his duel disk with a casual arrogance. He also held himself in a way that only a fighter could, something Rikuo was good at recognizing. "Now that you've won the Japanese National Tournament, do you think you're ready to go head to head with the top duelists of the world at the World Tournament?"

The cocky looking duelist raised his disk and smirked confidently. "This entire tournament was a breeze. I just wish some duelists like Yugi Motou would have come, but I guess he hasn't had much interest in dueling over the past few years. And that punk Kaiba is too busy with business to bother dueling anymore. I figure I've got a clear cut shot at winning the tournament, but there's one thing I want to do first."

The camera focused in on the duelist's face, and Rikuo heard the interviewer ask him the next question from off screen. Rikuo just rolled his eyes at watching another overconfident young punk duelist acting like he was the best. He could cream this punk in his sleep. "What exactly is it that you want to do?"

"I'm sure you remember that weird duel everybody saw a couple of years ago. The big bone freak and that wolf-guy dueled for the fate of the world and all that. Well that was an awesome duel, and both of them were really skilled duelists." Rikuo smirked at hearing this, and couldn't help but give himself a mental pat on the back. Damn right he was!

"Well, I can't feel that I really deserve to be the best in the world until I've defeated a person capable of saving it. That big bone guy called the winner Rikuo, and I'm calling him out! If you're anywhere in the world watching this wolf-boy, I challenge you to a duel! The name is Daisuke Ihachi, and I'm ready to take you on any time and any place." The camera zoomed out to show Daisuke pointing his finger directly at the screen, and to Rikuo it seemed like that finger was pointing directly at him.

"A challenge huh? I think I might just accept." Rikuo's gaze fell on a small box on the other side of the room. In it was his duel disk and his deck. He had a feeling he was going to be needing them both shortly, and boy was this going to be good. He'd enjoy teaching the punk what a real duelist was like.

"Hey Jasmine....where's the phone book?" XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Notes: Yes, very short, I know. But next chapter the duel will start, so it's cool.


	2. Start Of A Fiery Duel

Author's Notes: Aha! The first real chapter is here!

Chapter One: Start Of A Fiery Duel

Approximately one week ago Rikuo had received a challenge to duel, albeit indirectly, from Daisuke Ihachi, the current Japanese champion. Rikuo had never heard of the kid before, and considering he had watched other tournaments on TV it didn't make sense that he hadn't heard of the kid at all. He had won the Japanese National Tournament against some very high ranking plays, and he had won most of them fairly easily. So where did he come from?

That wasn't the only mystery he was facing. The other was where to find Daisuke. Sure the kid had made the challenge, and Rikuo was willing to accept it, but the problem was in finding the kid. The phone book hadn't helped at all, and no searches he had done in any venue had come up positive. The kid had to be a resident of Japan, otherwise he wouldn't be able to compete. But Rikuo still couldn't find any mentions of the kid anywhere.

Turning the page of the last tournament report that he had of the last year in Japan he growled and hurled it aside, to land with the rest of the reports. Every single tournament that might have qualified this kid for a tournament and not a damned thing! He wasn't in any of them! "How the hell did he get into such a high level tournament and win if he didn't win a lesser tournament to get there?"

As far as he could see there wasn't a single way that could have happened unless he was some randomly selected duelist or something, like a wild-card duelist that got picked for the tournament spot for no reason. But the tournament didn't have a wild-card spot, so that was impossible to. "Grrr...it's like this kid doesn't even exist, but I saw him on TV!"

The sound of the door bell ringing caught his attention and he grumpily picked himself up and walked to the door. He yanked it open, and found himself staring at somebody's chest. Now Rikuo wasn't exactly short, though he wasn't tall either. At 5'10 he had often found himself taller than most Japanese citizens. In this case the person standing in front of him was tall enough that Rikuo had to take a full steps backwards and look up a bit to get a good look at him. "Yeah? What is it?"

The man in front of him was, as previously stated, very tall. He was also very muscular, with arms that looked bigger than Rikuo's head. It was like the ape-horse all over again, except this guy had a far more intense look in his green eyes than the ape-horse could ever hope to have. He had dyed blonde hair that hung to his shoulders loosely, and he seemed to be looking through Rikuo. "I'm looking for Rikuo Amero."

The wolf-demon snorted, narrowing his slotted eyes at the stranger. Finally he gave a gruff answer, hoping his voice sounded more intimidating than the stranger's deep bass voice. Having a human sound more threatening than he was could be embarrassing. "That's me. Why are you looking for me?"

"I've been looking for you so that I could find someone else actually. Someone who shouldn't be here at all. I have to find him and take him home before he goes and does something that everyone would regret." Rikuo raised an eyebrow, expressing his confusion while not wanting to fully admit that he had no clue what this guy was talking about.

"Who are you looking for and why would I know anyways?" The big man held out his hand, and Rikuo gave it a glance. He discovered that the man was holding a small picture, or at least small in his hand, that showed a teenager with russet-brown hair wearing a leather jacket and smirking at the camera. It was a very familiar looking teenager...it was Daisuke Ihachi.

"The punk who challenged me. I've been looking for him myself, but I can't seem to find any record of him anywhere. There wasn't even anybody named Daisuke Ihachi signed up at any of the qualifying tournaments. I checked every single tournament report, and not one mention of that name" The big fellow narrowed his eyes, and then a small smile appeared on his features. He brushed past Rikuo, who snarled and started for the bigger man to pull him back, but was forced to stop when the other man stopped abruptly and picked up a piece of paper.

Before he could reprimand the big fellow he noticed the big guy was flipping through one of the tournament reports, the one he had just finished examining. He stopped after a few seconds and tossed Rikuo the paper. "He was there. You just didn't have the right name. Look at the winner of the tournament." The wolf-demon frowned and looked down at the tournament report, his golden gaze coming to rest on the name at the top of the list. It read: Drake. That was all, no last name.

"Daisuke has had that nickname for as long as I've known him. He rarely is called anything else. I myself am one of the few people who ever calls him Daisuke. Thank you for your time Rikuo Amero. If you should find him, call this number and ask for Dalin." The big man, who Rikuo now knew as Dalin, extended a little business card that didn't have a business name on it. Instead it just had a number and a few words in Egyptian on it.

He looked up from the card to say something, but discovered that though he was sure Dalin had just been there, the big fellow wasn't anywhere to be seen now. He had just vanished into thin air. "Damned people don't know how to leave properly. Always vanishing for no good reason. Pisses me off."

Rikuo glanced back down at the tournament report and the name Drake, and then he smirked. Now he had a new lead to go off of, and hopefully this would turn out better than before. He didn't know what Dalin wanted with Drake, but he had absolutely no intention of turning the punk kid in until he was finished teaching the kid a lesson in dueling that he would never forget.  
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Drake had been amused by the duels he had been in so far while here, but he hadn't gotten any real challenges. That was the whole purpose behind his challenge to Rikuo Amero, to get the ultimate challenge. Sure he could find Yugi or Kaiba and duel them, but he'd dueled both of them and won before. This would be a new and interesting challenge.

Flipping through his cards he found himself once again drawn to a few of them. They were important cards to him, and he felt that they would be critical in the upcoming duel. He slowly altered his deck, not so that it would be better suited to facing a machine deck, but so that it would fit in some new cards he had acquired quite recently.

He could have sought out Rikuo with magic, but he thought it was better this way. After all, if Rikuo had no intention of dueling him, going looking would be fruitless. If Rikuo was determined enough to take on Drake because of the challenge, then he'd take the duel to Drake.

Satisfied that he had finished constructing his deck, Drake slipped it into his pocket and put the duel disk onto his arm. Finally he slipped on his trench coat and headed out the door of the hotel room. He had picked a hotel close to the worst part of town for a very specific reason. "Let's see how well people in this place can throw down."

Smirking he cracked his knuckles and seated himself onto his Kawazaki. Swiftly he clipped his helmet on, and then he was off at high speed. There was no better way to relax before a tough duel than to ride around on a motorcycle and then go beat the crap out of people. At least to him there wasn't.  
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After three days of futile searching Rikuo had discovered once again that Daisuke Ihachi, or Drake or whatever the hell else he wanted to be called, didn't exist. At least not according to any normal records he didn't. Then again, neither did Rikuo. Which was pretty useful, considering he didn't have to pay taxes. Of course Jasmine had been the one to figure out how to buy things without any real identity, but he took half the credit. He had said they needed to.

So, now that he was thoroughly frustrated and bored to tears, he was going to vent some anger and some energy. He had decided to go for a run, and he had been doing so for the past hour, bounding over houses at top speed. His other intent was to head into the nearest dueling center and defeat some duelists, while disguised of course.

Unfortunately for him, all of his intents were totally thrown out the window when the smell of blood reached his sensitive nose. He skidded to a halt, perched on top of a three story apartment building, and took in a big whiff. It took him a few seconds to figure out exactly where it was coming from because he had to sort through older blood smells and other equally annoying scents. But once he had it, it was locked in. "Blood means violence, and violence means tension release. This is gonna be fun."

He spanned the distance in several leaps, and landed on top of a run-down building overlooking an alley. To his surprise it wasn't a gang fight as he had initially thought, it was just a regular brawl. But the most surprising part of it was that it was one against six, and the one man, who was a blur of action, seemed to be winning.

The single man threw his body weight into an oncoming thug, dropping him to the ground with a knee to the chest. Then he grabbed the thug's head and swung him around into another one of the six men. He was struck in the back of the head with another man's fist, but he recovered quickly and kicked his newest opponent in the groin. He then followed it up by kneeing that man in the face, crushing his nose.

As the man made his next attack, Rikuo saw something very interesting. He had a silver DD2 on his left arm, and he was now using it in fully extended form as a weapon, slashing and pummeling his enemies with it. And it appeared to be quite effective. Suddenly Rikuo smelled smoke, and watched as the fighter pressed the projection button on the disk and launched the two holo-projectors, each one hitting a thug square in the face, dropping them instantly.

He was definitely interested in a human who could handle himself this well in a fight, but he was here for stress relief, not to be a spectator. He hurled himself down off the roof, his feet crushing a punk beneath his weight. He smirked at hearing the crunch of bones, and then he moved in at incredible speed, making sure to keep his fists closed and his blows relatively light.

In seconds the last of the men was down in a heap, and Rikuo felt slightly satisfied. He brushed his hands on his pants and turn to make a comment to the other man, only to get a fist right in the face. He hit the ground hard, and shook his head in annoyance. He could feel a bit of blood welling up in his nose. "What the hell was that for?"

"Jack ass. I could have handled those losers easy enough, I didn't you to help out. I walked into this fight on purpose to relax myself, not so I could get 'saved' by some arrogant jerk off." Rikuo snarled and launched to his feet, ready to give his assailant a piece of his mind. To his surprise he found himself face to face with the handsome youth with russet-brown hair that had challenged him on TV weeks previous. This was Drake!

Drake noticed in that moment the wolf-ears and wolf-tail that the guy had, along with his slotted golden eyes and shaggy black hair. Brushing a hand through his own hair he smirked and called back his holo-projectors. "I can't believe it. Rikuo Amero, here in a little alley trying to play hero. I don't suppose you were actually looking for me to duel were you?"

Rikuo grinned and plucked his duel disk from the bag on his back and slid it onto his arm. Then he took his deck out and shoved it at Drake. The other duelist grinned and took the deck before handing Rikuo his own. The two duelists started shuffling. "Actually I was looking for stress relief myself, relief from the stress of trying to find you. The actual finding part was just an accident, but I'd say it turned out well. Believe me, you're going to regret that challenge."

Satisfied that he had shuffled his opponent's deck well enough, he handed it back and got his own in return. Both of them grinned widely and shoved the decks into their disks, ready to do battle. Or at least so it seemed. Drake jerked a thumb over his back, pointing at a sleek black motorcycle that was propped up there. "This alleyway isn't the best place for a duel that's bound to be as explosive as this one. If you think you can keep up with my bike, I'll show you the way to a better place to duel."

"Can I keep up? You better just make sure you don't go too slow that I lose you." Drake just grinned and headed to his bike. Then they were off, Drake zipping along the road on his motorcycle and Rikuo following along on his own two feet. It was actually harder to keep up than Rikuo had anticipated, because Drake drove like a maniac, not even bothering to pay attention to regular traffic laws.

He just weaved in and out of traffic and when a stop light was in the way he went up on the sidewalk to bypass it. In short he was a general menace to society on his motorcycle and a menace to others with his fists. Rikuo was starting to like this guy already.  
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The place that Drake had led them to was much bigger than the alleyway had been. In fact, it was big enough to hold multiple duels at the same time. It looked like it was an abandoned warehouse, what with the chains and barrels sitting around in odd places. "This is it then huh Drake? You really think you're up to this duel against a guy who saved the world?"

"You aren't the only one who has saved the world before. I'm a member of that club too. And believe me, I'm more than ready for this. The question is, have you gotten rusty over the past couple of years, or do you still have what it takes to duel with the best?" He snapped his disk into place and activated it, the life points counting up until he was completely set to duel. (DLP: 8000)

Rikuo grinned and triggered his own duel disk, the projectors flying off to complete the virtual dueling field. He hadn't dueled in quite some time, but he was sure this was going to be good. After all, if Drake really was the Japanese Champion and had saved the world at some point, then he was probably a good duelist. "I don't know how tough you are, but I guess I'm about to find out right? So here we go!" (RLP: 8000)

Both duelists quickly drew their opening hands of five, and then Drake drew a sixth card. He was going to take the opportunity to go first. Drake took a look at it his hand and smiled, thinking about exactly what he was going to do. "I'll summon Illusive Magician(1900/1600) and then I'll set a card face down. See if you can keep up Rikuo, okay?" Drake's monster was a blue robed magician that looked like a younger form of the Dark Magician. Rikuo was confident he could crush it.

The wolf-demon surveyed his own hand, smirking at what he saw. He was going to not only crush Illusive Magician, but teach this little punk what he could do. "I'll summon Mechanical Chaser(1850/800) to the field! Next I'll add this magic card: Limiter Removal! This doubles Mechanical Chaser's attack, setting him at thirty-seven hundred! Now Mechanical Chaser will attack!" The little weirdly shaped monster extended its arms to great lengths towards Illusive Magician, who stood ready and waiting.

Suddenly Drake's face down card flipped up, and Mechanical Chaser began to get smaller. "You've triggered MY magic card: Shrink! It's the exact opposite of Limiter Removal as it cuts your monster's power in half. Illusive Magician, counterattack!" The magician raised his staff and sent a stream of blue energy forwards. The energy swept over the extended arms and then engulfed the shrunken Mechanical Chaser, blowing it to pieces. (RLP: 7950)

"You walked into such a basic trap Rikuo, or should I say quick-play? The first exchange is mine, and I'm not impressed with your skills so far. You'll have to try harder." The wolf-demon scowled and took one of the other cards from his hand and slid it into the slot on his disk. It appeared in front of him face down, awaiting a potential attack by Drake.

"That was just the first move. Believe me, I've got more. After all, I don't know what to expect of you, but I can tell you this. No little spellcasters are going to even slow down my machines, so don't get cocky. Oh, and it's your turn remember? So go ahead and make my day." Rikuo folded his arms, the way he was holding his body projecting a confident aura. But Drake didn't know Rikuo well enough to be sure if that confidence was just a bluff or not. So he'd have to work it out on his own.

Drake drew his next card, giving him a total of five, and then he looked out at Rikuo's mostly open field. Even if it was a trap, it would most likely only stop one attack. So he'd be better off with having two monsters, and he knew just what monster to summon. "Get ready Rikuo, because these so-called 'little spellcasters' are about to make a bit dent in your life points. I summon you, Skilled Dark Magician(1900/1700)!"

Rikuo stood calm and confident even under the stealing gaze of one magician in blue and another in black. Together they had enough power to nearly cut his life points in half, and all he had was a single face down card. The duel was just getting started, but he was sure it was going to be an exciting one. He could already feel his pulse starting to race with the thrill of the duel. "Bring it on." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Notes: I decided to put it at about the same average length that Wolf General does it, just to see how it turns out. It will still be done in my writing and dueling style though.

Wolf General: Hope you enjoy it.

Time Mage: Speaking of Dalin....

Original Cards

Drake: Illusive Magician 


	3. Two Powers In Opposition

Author's Notes: The first real duel chapter. Here it goes. 

Chapter Two: Two Powers In Opposition

Drake drew his next card, giving him a total of five, and then he looked out at Rikuo's mostly open field. Even if it was a trap, it would most likely only stop one attack. So he'd be better off with having two monsters, and he knew just what monster to summon. "Get ready Rikuo, because these so-called 'little spellcasters' are about to make a bit dent in your life points. I summon you, Skilled Dark Magician(1900/1700)!"

Rikuo stood calm and confident even under the stealing gaze of one magician in blue and another in black. Together they had enough power to nearly cut his life points in half, and all he had was a single face down card. The duel was just getting started, but he was sure it was going to be an exciting one. He could already feel his pulse starting to race with the thrill of the duel. "Bring it on."

Drake smirked at his opponent and raised one arm in a declaration of attack. "Skilled Dark Magician, start us off by blasting away nineteen hundred of Rikuo's life points!" The black robed mage aimed his staff at Rikuo and let loose a magic attack that would cut down Rikuo's life points. And with only one card on Rikou's field, it was unlikely he could stop both of Drake's attacks.

"This one's in the bag! Open face down card: Attack Drawing Armor! This card will attach a devilish armor to your Illusive Magician and send the attack straight at it! So say goodbye to both of your monsters!" The attack swerved in mid-air as armor that looked like a jaw appeared around Illusive Magician. Drake reached for a card in his hand, but then shook his head and only watched as his magicians obliterated each other, leaving nothing but dust in their wake.

"Good move. I could have stopped the attack with Illusive Magician's special ability, but I figured it would be better just to let it pass. Since I don't have any monsters left to defend myself with I'm going to have to end my turn after placing a single card on the field." His card appeared face down, now being the only card on either player's field. So far they had been dueling pretty evenly, but who knew what could happen in just a short amount of time.

The wolf-demon general picked up another card off his deck and then immediately slapped a different card down onto the field from his hand. "Let's see how you handle Y-Dragon Head(1500/1600). Attack him directly my mechanical beast!" The red machined dragon opened its jaws wide and blasted out a stream of what looked like red energy standing in for fire. And it was barreling down on Drake ready to burn away his life points.

The magic user grinned and depressed the only usable button on his duel disk, activating his own set card. "Magister School, reveal yourself and create for me two Magister Tokens(500/500) in defense mode!" Two red robed magicians appeared crouching in front of Drake, and one of them was incinerated by Y-Dragon Head's attack. That left Drake with only one meager token to defend himself with and no face down cards.

"Thanks for killing a Magister Token. When one of them leaves the field in any fashion I get to draw a card. So you helped me out." Rikuo just snarled and placed a card down on the field, knowing that while he currently had the advantage of monsters, that could easily change. Particularly since as soon as Drake drew he'd have five cards to use while Rikuo would only have two cards in his hand.

Drake glanced at his newest card and then threw back his head, roaring with laughter. "Looks like I've just drawn what I need to crush your mechanical menace. Quick-Silver Magician(1400/1200) comes to the field specially whenever he's drawn, giving me a free monster!" A thin silver-robed magician touched down on Drake's field, spinning his thin little wand in between his hands like a baton.

"That's only part one of my plan. The second part is to sacrifice my remaining token to summon Chaos Magician(2400/1900), thereby letting me draw another card." He drew another card from his deck, satisfied as a powerful looking black robed magician took his place on the field, wielding a simple black staff. He looked like he could shit bricks and spit nails, he was that tough.

"Chaos Magic Attack!" The magician released his chaos attack straight at Rikuo's machine monster. The difference in attack points was nine hundred, so Y-Dragon Head didn't stand a ghost of a chance. However at the last moment the attack exploded and a line of fire raced along it to destroy the Chaos Magician, leaving Drake's only monster as the Quick-Silver Magician who was too weak to destroy the dragon.

"Widespread Ruin just trashed your strongest monster Drake. Now you can't attack me at all can you?" The punk duelist just shrugged this off and set up two cards on the field. He now had two cards and one monster, as opposed to Rikuo's one monster and no set cards. Yet still the duel was very even. Only fifty damage had been dealt so far.

Rikuo now held three cards, and he was faced with deciding whether or not to attack Drake while the magician duelist had two cards down on the field. So far Drake had played only two cards, and both had been quick-plays. Only one had been a real threat, so there was no telling what sort of cards the duelist had placed on the field. "To hell with it. Time to throw caution to the wind. Y-Dragon Head, attack his magician!"

Drake stood with his arms folded as the attacks stretched towards his magician. He seemed utterly confident, and in that moment Rikuo knew that his attack was going to fail. He didn't know what Drake was going to do, but he knew it wasn't going to work. "Reveal permanent trap card, Astral Barrier! This will direct your attack past my magician and straight to my life points!"

Rikuo face-fell as his attacked whizzed by the magician and collided with Drake. However unlike normal duelists Drake didn't even flinch, and the reason became clear when a glowing barrier shimmered into view around Drake. He hadn't been damaged at all. "How the hell are you unharmed? And why haven't your life points gone down?"

Drake motioned to his other card which was now also face up. "Astral Barrier is a pretty crappy card unless you desire to lose on purpose. But when combined with my second permanent trap, Spirit Barrier, it becomes a perfect combo. Because as long as I have a monster on the field Spirit Barrier protects me from monster damage." He smirked as the full extent of his barrier combo's power was revealed.

Rikuo saw just where the problem was. As a normal combination it was pretty useless since it required two cards just to negate attacks for a turn. But because both of the traps were permanent, it became an endless barrier that would protect Drake from attacks. _'Whenever I try to attack he'll just move the attack to his life points using Astral Barrier. And then because he has Spirit Barrier and a monster on the field, he won't take any damage. It's a perfect defense combination!'_

"You've got quite a combo going there. But sooner or later that combo is going to break down, and then I'll be there to slip in and obliterate your life points. For now I can only place a monster face down and set another card down to defend myself. Just wait Drake, I'll bring your combo crashing down around you in due time." His two cards appeared, and then he crossed his arms, waiting for Drake to retaliate with his own move.

So far he was happy with this duel. When he had gotten the challenge he had figured Drake was just another upstart duelist who needed to be smacked down. But now that he was actually in a duel with the guy, he realized that Drake was a much more talented duelist than he had ever expected. The best part was, the duel was just getting started, so there was no telling what sort of surprised were in store for both of them. _'It's been a good long while since I had a real challenge. I'm glad this kid came along, otherwise I would have been stuck losing at fighting games to Jasmine. We never duel anymore because she got bored of losing. Of course there are other games we play...'_

Drake quirked an eyebrow as he watched Rikuo gaze out into empty space, a funny glazed look in his eyes and a silly grin on his face. He waved his arms to try and get the wolf's attention, but he got no response. _'What the hell is this guy thinking about that's giving him that silly look? Shouldn't he be focused on the duel, or does he not take me seriously yet? If that's the case I'm going to have to teach him a lesson about my power.'_

Rikuo chuckled idly, thinking about the last 'game' that he had Jasmine had played. That had been a very interesting one, and he wouldn't mind playing it again with her sometime. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts he didn't even notice when Drake tried to say something to him. At least until one thing was said. "Oi! Mutt! Snap out of it damn it! This a duel so no daydreaming. Save that for school!"

The wolf-demon's dark gaze fell upon Drake and suddenly Drake had this weird feeling of impending doom. It was like some evil creature had just marked him as lunch, and he got the impression that the evil creature was the one standing in front of him. "Nobody calls me a mutt! As soon as it's my turn I'm gonna kick your ass for that comment, just you wait!"

Drake rolled his eyes, now confident once again. He had faced crazy duelists before, and also really evil ones. After dying in his duel with Taichi where every lost monster and lost life point caused extreme agony, this duel would be a cake walk. After all, nothing was at stake here except pride, and that could be reclaimed. "At least you're paying attention now. You were off in la la land for a couple of minutes there. Now that the duel is back on, it's my turn. So I draw!"

The punk duelist grinned at the sight of his newest card, and he immediately played it. "This card is a new one for me, and it should make this duel more interesting. It's a normal magic card called Supply Lines. After activation both of us draw one card during our end phase. So we'll get two new cards each turn, only one of them will have to be saved for the turn after." Rikuo considered this, and decided that it benefitted them both equally, so he had no reason to complain. And it would make getting combos easier, so that wasn't a problem.

"I'll move my magician into defense mode just in case. Now I summon Refined Spellweaver(1600/1100) in defense mode. This little magician is going to show his power quite soon, so just you wait. Since that's all I can do at the moment, I'll just end my turn." His turn was over, but he wasn't done as he drew another card according to the effect of Supply Lines. Rikuo wasn't worried though. He might not be able to attack yet, but he could still build up a strong force.

Rikuo drew a card to give him two cards, but before he could continue his move Drake held up one hand, and then gestured with the other to his newest magician. The suit wearing magician bowed briefly to Drake, and then raised his wand, generating a magic aura that covered the field. "Don't do anything yet Rikuo, because Refined Spellweaver's effect is just kicking off. Since it's the standby phase we both draw from our deck till we reach a monster which is added to our hands. All other cards are reshuffled into the deck."

The wolf-demon grinned at this interesting effect and started drawing while his opponent did the same. After three draws of no monsters he finally managed to draw one on the fourth attempt. He hadn't been watching Drake so he didn't know how many it had taken him. Finally the two duelists took their drawn cards and shuffled them back into their decks. "That actually helps me, I don't know why you'd use it."

"You'll just have to wait and see won't you?" The wolf sighed and looked at his current hand of three cards. He silently cursed his deck for not providing him with an amassed army to take on Drake once he got rid of the barriers. Instead all he got were defenders and other useless cards. He couldn't even set this turn!

"I summon Gear Golem the Moving Fortress(800/2200) in defense mode. End turn." A giant machine with spikes and wheels appeared on the field, it's massive defense power making it a virtually unbeatable barrier for him. Rikuo drew another card, putting his hand back up at three cards, yet still he couldn't do anything. He'd just have to wait and see what happened.

Drake drew his next card, and then Refined Spellweaver raised his wind and unleashed a slightly different aura. It's color was green instead of a yellowish like the last aura had been. Rikuo grinned and placed his fingers onto his deck to start drawing for a monster. "Let's get this draw over with shall we? I need an attacker anyways for when I have a method of defeating your barrier combination."

"Don't be so hasty Rikuo. Didn't you notice that the aura in the air is different than it was during your standby phase? Well that's because Refined Spellweaver's effect has changed, and it will again during your next standby phase. Now instead of drawing for a monster we go for a magic card, hence the green color." Rikuo couldn't help but grin at hearing this. He could do with a useful magic card more than he could for a monster, so this was even better. He was also highly impressed with the effect of Drake's monster. It was truly versatile.

Rikuo picked up two cards before he reached a magic card, and Drake did exactly the same. Now both of them had more cards in their hand than before. Drake had five and Rikuo had four, but Drake's were more accessible in this turn than Rikou's were. Whatever magic card Drake had drawn, Rikuo could just hope it wasn't useful. _'This guy claims that he's strong. So far he's just defended himself effectively. Let's see if he can really go on the attack effectively or not.'_

"Did I mention earlier that Quick-Silver Magician has the same effect as a Magister Token? So when he leaves the field I'll get to draw an extra card. I'll send him to the cemetery by offering him as a sacrifice for White Sorcerer(2200/2000)!" Drake's newest monster was a pale skinned human not wearing much. His body was covered by what looked like a flare out white skirt, and his chest was partially covered by a studded white vest. He didn't hold a wand, instead he held a ball of white energy in each hand. His eyes were covered by a white cloth, so all in all he didn't look very deadly.

"Okay Rikuo, I'm going on the attack. White Sorcerer, destroy his Y-Dragon Head!" The sorcerer placed his palms together, joining the twin spheres of magical energy. Finally he raised his arms above his head and separated his hands, revealing a boulder-sized energy ball. With minimal effort the sorcerer hurled it straight at Rikuo's weaker monster.

"Drake, your Refined Spellweaver helped me survive this attack, I just want you to know that. Because it let me draw one of the better cards in my deck. I'll activate my face down Call to Arms, which lets me immediately place an equip card from my hand onto a monster on the field. So I equip Y-Dragon Head with the Legendary Weapon Card Howling Sword!" The mighty blade appeared on the field, stabbed into the ground. Since the machine had no arms it merely placed a limb on the handle to gain it's power.

"The monster equipped with Howling Sword gains one thousand attack points, and then has it's attack doubled. So Y-Dragon Head hits five thousand points! Roast his pathetic White Sorcerer!" The mechanical dragon opened its jaws wide and unleashed a river of flame energy that collided with the white ball of magic. It forced it backwards until both attacks rammed into the White Sorcerer, blowing it to pieces. The force of the explosion rocked the building, forcing Drake to throw up his arms to cover his face from the smoke pouring over him.

Rikuo grinned at seeing Drake's monster go up in flames, but when the smoke cleared and he saw Drake standing there, unharmed, he remembered a very specific effect. _'Damn. I forgot about Spirit Barrier. Since he has monsters in play he didn't take any damage from that, otherwise I would have a substantial lead right about now. At least I did some serious damage to him.'_

"Although that may have taken out a strong level six spellcaster, it actually hurt you Rikuo. Because when White Sorcerer is goes to the cemetery from the field you must take the top three cards of your deck and remove them from the game. So say goodbye to some of your cards." The wolf-demon growled and snapped three cards off his deck, barely even looking at them before shoving them into his pocket. It figured that the damned spellcaster would have some kind of annoying effect.

"That's not all Rikuo. By discarding a card from my hand I can special summon Black Sorcerer(2200/2000) from my deck when White Sorcerer dies in battle. Of course it can't attack this turn, but that's just fine with me." Drake's replacement monster was identical to the previous, except instead of wearing white it wore black clothing. Rikuo could only assume that it had a similar effect to it's brethren's ability.

"I gotta admit though Rikuo, that move was pretty cool. And that Legendary Weapon of yours is the most powerful equip card I've ever heard of. It's even deadlier than United We Stand. I can only imagine the sort of power you could get with it if you equipped it on something stronger than your dragon, like a Buster Blader or something like that. The power possible is astounding." Drake flashed his opponent a grin, and Rikuo gave him a toothy smile in return. No reason to have animosity between the two. After all, it was just a duel for fun and for pride as a duelist.

"You're pretty tough yourself Drake. And I have to admit I was shocked by your skill and power as a duelist. But so far we seem to be pretty evenly matched. I can only guess that this duel is just starting to get heated up. There's no telling what awaits us throughout the rest of it." He cracked his knuckles, grinning like an idiot. His heart was starting to pound with excitement just from the thought of the potential the duel held.

"Rikuo, I bet this duel isn't even close to getting started. Neither of us has unveiled even half of our power I bet. So why don't we stop holding back and truly unleash our power upon each other? No reason to play the wait and see game. We should both give it everything we've got and hope to have to give it more. Because if I'm right about you, then you could be my chance at achieving my desired goal." The wolf-demon gave his opponent a confused look, not knowing what he was talking about.

"What is it you want to achieve from this duel? It is just for fun isn't it? There isn't some dark and hidden agenda to this whole thing is there?" Drake chuckled at this, obviously not realizing how many times that Rikuo had ended up in a situation where there really was a dark and hidden agenda to the duel. Despite their common bonds as duelists and fighters, the two didn't know a thing about each other.

"My goal since I became a duelist. One simple thing I desire. To experience the ultimate duel where both players exceed their limits! Show me your full power and I'll show you mine, and together we can achieve that greatest height of dueling! I'm certain that this will be the ultimate duel that I desire!" XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Notes: Huzzah! More exciting dueling. Funny note about this, upon finishing chapter one I had only fully scripted four turns of the duel. Which meant I couldn't go any farther in the last chapter, not really. But now it's all scripted! And it should be quite fun for everyone.

Void Templar: Nah, this is a duel fic, so other than Dalin, Drake, Rikuo, and Jasmine no other characters from either story will make a cameo. Perhaps a mention, but that's all. Oh, and I think longer duels are really exciting, sorry if it's confusing.

Time Mage: In fact you did. No, Drake is going to find that this duel is a whole new experience for him, but so will Rikuo.

John: Not. Really. But. Whatever. Floats. Your. Boat.

Wolf General: Believe me, both of them will be in top form throughout the whole duel.

Original Cards(unless I say otherwise all of Rikuo's original cards are created by Wolf General)

Drake: Magister School, Quick-Silver Magician, Supply Lines(by Vaurnut), Refined Spellweaver, White Sorcerer, Black Sorcerer

Rikuo: Call to Arms, Legendary Weapon Howling Sword

Anime Original Cards

Rikuo: Attack Drawing Armor


	4. Chaos Unleashed!

Author's Notes: On to the second duel chapter! And things are just about to heat up. 

Chapter Three: Chaos Unleashed!

_"Rikuo, I bet this duel isn't even close to getting started. Neither of us has unveiled even half of our power I bet. So why don't we stop holding back and truly unleash our power upon each other? No reason to play the wait and see game. We should both give it everything we've got and hope to have to give it more. Because if I'm right about you, then you could be my chance at achieving my desired goal." The wolf-demon gave his opponent a confused look, not knowing what he was talking about._

_"What is it you want to achieve from this duel? It is just for fun isn't it? There isn't some dark and hidden agenda to this whole thing is there?" Drake chuckled at this, obviously not realizing how many times that Rikuo had ended up in a situation where there really was a dark and hidden agenda to the duel. Despite their common bonds as duelists and fighters, the two didn't know a thing about each other._

_"My goal since I became a duelist. One simple thing I desire. To experience the ultimate duel where both players exceed their limits! Show me your full power and I'll show you mine, and together we can achieve that greatest height of dueling! I'm certain that this will be the ultimate duel that I desire!"_

Drake slipped two cards onto his disk, and they appeared in front of him, giving him four total cards on the field, not counting his two monsters. The Spirit Barrier/Astral Barrier combo, and his two face down cards. Of course Rikuo had no need to attack and risk those face down cards when he knew that until he crushed the barrier combo he couldn't attack anyways. "Go ahead Rikuo, reveal your power to me. Show me what kind of duelist you really are."

The wolf grabbed a new card and didn't bother to look at it yet, because Refined Spellweaver was raising it's wand into the air. The new aura was a purplish color, so Rikuo assumed that it meant now they'd have to draw for a trap card. That was fine with him, traps were always useful. He picked up six cards before reaching one, then reshuffled his deck. He had five cards to work with, but no way to attack yet, so he'd have to wait. "Looks like you'll have to wait for me to show you the kind of duelist I am. All I can do is set three cards. Two of them are either magic or traps, and the third is a monster. Now why don't you show me what kind of duelist you are?"

Rikuo now had two defense monsters and Y-Dragon Head with five thousand attack points. He had two of his own set cards, ready to be unleashed on Drake, and his Legendary Weapon Howling Sword equipped on Y-Dragon Head. With that kind of attack power available to him he had no reason to worry about his opponent taking him down. Even the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon couldn't defeat a monster of that great an attack power. As he watched, a yellowish aura covered the field. "And now for a monster again huh?"

Drake nodded and the two duelists started drawing again, giving Drake six cards and Rikuo four. The way this was going they'd deck out pretty quickly. Rikuo was busy examining the monster he had gotten, but was snapped out of it by Drake's sudden laughter. "You wanted to see what kind of duelist I am? Well get ready, because here I come! Activate Shot From The Dark, to play Shrink from my cemetery at no cost!" Rikuo cursed, hardly believing that Drake had such a powerful card in his deck. It put his Replay to shame. What was worse was the target of Drake's Shrink card.

"Your Y-Dragon Head may be powerful, but magic gave it that power and magic can take it away. So I target it with Shrink!" The machine dragon roared as its body was reduced in size, becoming a pint-sized machine. Instead of looking like a fearsome weapon, it looked like a child's play thing. Drake had ruined his Y-Dragon Head, but at least he hadn't beaten it. Twenty-five hundred attacks points was plenty of power to deal with whatever Drake summoned. Plus he had his face down cards.

"That's not all I'm doing. I summon Refined Spellweaver's rather unstable brethren, Twisted Spellweaver(1800/800) to the field!" The new magician could have been Refined Spellweaver's twin, or him on a really bad day. Their general appearance was the same, but Twisted Spellweaver's suit was on wrong, and his wand was all smudged up. His hair stuck out at wild angles and he had a goofy grin on his face. Twisted Spellweaver was a raving lunatic.

"I bet you figure I can't defeat your monster since I've summoned and don't have monsters of great enough attack power. You're right, I don't. At least not separately. But together my magicians can easily defeat your boosted dragon!" His laughter was echoed, albeit rather more insanely, by Twisted Spellweaver. Refined Spellweaver just shot his counterpart an annoyed looking glare. Obviously the two didn't see eye to eye. The thing that surprised Rikuo was how life-like they were acting, and he wondered whether Drake could be doing it. That would mean he had magic though.

Suddenly something about what Drake had just said snapped into place, and he came to a very specific conclusion. "Damn...a fusion." Two monsters who looked almost identical, and talk of using the combined power of the two monsters to defeat his dragon? What else could it be but a fusion, and Drake still had four cards in his hand, so there was a good chance that one of them was Polymerization. And if it was, that would be a bad thing for him. Hopefully the fusion wasn't too strong, or he would be in trouble.

"Don't think I'm such an average duelist as to automatically count on a fusion. No, that's hardly my method of dueling. Though you never know, I could whip out a fusion at some point, you can't tell. But the method I had in mind was rather different. It's this next magic card: Magician's Cross! This will allow my Twisted Spellweaver and Refined Spellweaver to attack together and make their attacks equal to three thousand! Now my spellweavers, combine your power and obliterate Y-Dragon Head!" The two magicians crossed their staffs and aimed straight at the machine monster. And together they fired a wave of powerful red energy right at Y-Dragon Head. With a five hundred point difference in power the two magicians were going to win.

"Hahahahaha! This is where you see the kind of duelist I am Drake! Your barrier combination is really effective, but so is this trap combo! First up is Windstorm of Etaqua which will force your monsters into defense mode, and then Dark Mirror Force to remove your defense mode monsters from the game! Say goodbye to your attack and your monsters!" A black barrier raised around Rikuo's monsters, ready to reflect an attack. At the same time a powerful gust of wind was starting to blow across the field, forcing the magicians to struggle against it.

"Rikuo, Dark Mirror Force doesn't cancel attacks. Which means without Windstorm of Etaqua in this situation it's pretty useless. So I activate my quick-play magic card, Negative Morality! This will negate the effect of your windstorm at a cost of one thousand of my own life points. And since none of my monsters are in defense mode your Dark Mirror Force fails, and your Y-Dragon Head dies!" Rikuo raised one arm to block dust coming at him as his dragon was blasted into oblivion by the combined attack of Drake's spellweavers. Rikuo had played an excellent combination, but Drake had seen the flaw in it and capitalized on that flaw. (RLP: 7450, RLP: 7000)

The wolf general smirked, despite the fact that his strongest monster on the field and his only attacker had been destroyed by Drake's combination. He was smirking for a very specific reason. "Despite your confidence the score stands in my favor. I may have lost one monster, but I've got two more. You can't defeat Gear Golem right now, and you have no clue what my face down monster is. Do you dare to attack it?" Drake smirked right back and pointed a finger at Rikuo's defenseless defense monster.

"I think I will. Black Sorcerer will crush it!" Just like White Sorcerer before it the Black Sorcerer formed a titanic ball of black magic and then hurled it at Rikuo's set monster. It was blown into millions of pieces, briefly revealed as Rikuo's Nightmare Machine(800/2000) which was just a few hundred defense points shy of managing to block the attack. Now all he had left on the field was Gear Golem the Moving Fortress and its twenty-two hundred defense points.

"Since Black Sorcerer destroyed another monster in battle, his effect activates. I can name one type of card, and then you have to discard one of that card from your deck. So take a trap and discard it." The wolf-demon growled and searched his deck for a trap, finally settling on Reverse of the Reverse and then sent it to the cemetery. Meanwhile Drake was busy ending his own turn by placing a card face down, and then drawing because of Supply Lines. Now the turn was back to Rikuo, and he had to figure out exactly what he was going to do.

When Rikuo drew his card, a dark green aura shrouded the field. He saw that now both spellweavers were using their wands to create the aura, accounting for the darker color. It was magic again, so apparently it was a cycle, not random or chosen by Drake. "Rikuo, before you draw I want you to know that my spellweavers are a special brand of magician called Unity Magicians. When they are together on the field they have extra powers. In this case the power I choose to invoke is one that Twisted Spellweaver can only use if Refined Spellweaver is on the field. Now you must discard all cards you draw before you reach a magic card instead of shuffling them back into your deck."

The demonic duelist had to pick up and throw away three perfectly good cards before he reached a magic card that he could add to his hand. He squinted at his hand, and then raised his duel disk to peer into the graveyard. Mentally he did a count and came to a conclusion. '_I get it now. Drake made me discard a trap not just to get rid of danger, but because next turn we'll be drawing for traps, and I've already gone through five traps. Since I have less traps than any other type of card in my deck, I'm bound to lose lots of cards because of his spellweavers. Clever. I have to kill them before they can accomplish that.'_

He scanned his cards, and then noticed the card he had drawn thanks to the weavers. Combined with the monster he had drawn, he was about to unleash a great deal of power upon his opponent. "Thanks for the cards Drake. Now I sacrifice my golem to summon my own physical avatar, Wolf Demon Lord(2400/1000) to the field!" A duel monsters version of himself appeared, wielding what appeared to be the howling sword. Only this one was just part of the card, and didn't give any extra effects.

"Now I activate the magic card your weavers gave me. Lord's Ascension! By tributing a monster with 'lord' in it's name I can special summon a stronger version, in a manner of speaking. So say goodbye to me, and hello to my father. Wolf Demon Avatar(5500/3000)!" The monster that took shape on Rikuo's field was an enormous creature with attack points that could easily devastate his life points. It roared at Drake, and the punk duelist took an involuntary step backwards. This monster was astonishingly powerful!

"Remember how earlier I said I'd find a way to destroy your card combination and then it would be open season on your life points? Well it is now, because I've found the way! I play Chain of Tornadoes! All I have to do is select one word, and any card on the field with that word in it's name will be destroyed. And the word I choose is barrier!" Drake grimaced as a blast of wind formed into two tornadoes that whirled across the field. They struck his Spirit Barrier and Astral Barrier and blew them both apart. Now his perfect defense lock was dead and gone, and he was face to face with Wolf Demon Avatar, an incredibly powerful monster.

"I'll set two cards face down for later. Now it's like I said. Open season on your life points. Wolf Demon Avatar, rip his Refined Spellweaver to shreds!" The behemoth of a monster lunged towards the now cowering spellweaver. This attack was going to blast away more than half of Drake's remaining life points and give Rikuo a true lead. This was going to be really satisfying watching the duel monsters form of his father break down Drake's monsters and strategy. It wouldn't be stopped!

"Wolf Demon Avatar is a powerful monster. But he's not immune to effects, so he won't last through this turn! Reveal Dimension Magic! This quick-play card can only be used if I have a magician on the field, which I do. I sacrifice a monster on my field and then get to summon another from my hand. So I'll nuke Black Sorcerer and thereby remove three of your cards from your deck, and then special summon the Dark Magician(2500/2100)!" A golden coffin closed around Black Sorcerer, and then when it opened the Dark Magician was now standing in its place in all his purple robed glory. But Dark Magician was no match for Wolf Demon Avatar either.

"Where does my monster's demise come into play with this one huh? You said it wouldn't last the full turn. So what will you do?" Rikuo smirked confidently, knowing that it was unlikely his opponent would be able to stop the attack of his father's physical avatar. He had this duel in the bag already, and all it had taken was a single monster. Seemed almost too easy. 'Almost too easy...it's never too easy. Damn, something bad is going to happen!'

"I don't need to make any further play to destroy your monster because I've already made the play that will kill it! The final effect of Dimension Magic kills one of your monsters on the field, so I destroy Wolf Demon Avatar!" Dark Magician raised his staff and fired a beam of purple energy. It collided with the monster's chest and pushed him back, shattering him into digital fragments that quickly became dust in the wind. Rikuo snarled, outraged that his father's avatar had been destroyed so soon after having reached the field. He had sworn he had Drake!

Finally Rikuo took the time to grab the top three cards of his deck to remove them from the game. He grimaced at the sight of Spirit Mirror. Not only had he lost a good card, but he'd also lost another trap. And since Drake still had both his spellweaver's on the field, Rikuo could potentially lose a lot of cards in this next turn. "My turn is over."

As soon as Drake drew his card the weaver's raised their wands and generated a dark purple aura. Now was the moment of truth. If Rikuo couldn't draw a trap quickly, he would be in big trouble. Rikuo snapped the top card off his deck, praying for something good. He turned it over and discovered something interesting. "Ha! Your strategy didn't work, my first card is a trap!" He smirked widely at his good luck and top decking skills, but lost some of his delight when Drake too drew a trap first thing. Again they were even.

"I play Pot of Greed." Drake drew two new cards off the top of his deck accoding to the effect of Pot of Greed, giving him a total of six cards in hand. That was double the number that Rikuo was holding. He once again had plenty of options to work with. Drake scanned his hand, and then smirked. He was radiating confidence now, and Rikuo could also feel energy building around his opponent. 'Now is the moment. Let's see how Rikuo can handle my full strength. My maximum as a duelist all in one move.'

"I begin with Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your left face down card!" Drake's magic card appeared on the field, and then it sent a bolt of lightning at Rikuo's set card. It held up against the force briefly, but then it was blown away, briefly revealing Negate Attack. He was down another trap, and it looked like he was in trouble. But he still had one face down card, even though he had no monster to defend himself with. There was no telling what would happen now.

"Before I continue, I wanted to explain something. I've always had a lot of darkness in me, but at the same time I've had light in me. Light that was provided by my friends and my family. They keep me from slipping into the darkness and becoming part of it completely. Therefore I feel I have a combination of the powers of light and dark. You can get two things when you combine those two. Balance, or chaos. Now I'm going to show you chaos! Activate Baptism of Light and Dark!" His magic card took shape on the field, revealing a monster that seemed to be charging forwards on it. He didn't recognize it though.

"Baptism of Light and Dark requires that I sacirifice a Dark Magician, which I have and will. Then it allows me to special summon the second of my chaos monsters and my personal favorite from my deck. Black Magician of Chaos(2800/2600)!" A wave of energy surrounded Dark Magician, and when it died down he was changed. Now he was taller, with blue skin, and an outfit made of black, red, and blue leather. He held a deadly looking staff and he had a stern look on his face. He also had quite a bit of attacking power.

"The instant Black Magician of Chaos hits the field I can take a magic card from my cemetery and add it to my hand. In this case I take back and activate the card I just played earlier. Mystical Space Typhoon, and I'll blow away your last face down card!" Another bolt of lightning shot out, destroying Rikuo's quick-play magic card called Safeguard. It would have protected him from one instance of damage, but now he was completely defenseless. No cards in hand or on the field. This was going to be bad.

"I'm not even remotely done Rikuo. I sacrifice Twisted Spellweaver and Refined Spellweaver in order to summon White Magician of Chaos(2800/2600) to the field to join his counterpart!" Rikuo gasped as another blue skinned magician appeared, only this one's outfit was themed in white, green, and blue instead of black, red, and blue. They stood side by side, power virtually radiating off of them. And together they had fifty-six hundred attack power, enough to cut down most of his life points.

"When White Magician of Chaos comes into play I can take one card from out of play and put it in my hand. Now show me your out of play pile." The wolf-demon pulled the six out of play cards from his pocket and walked to the middle of the field, Drake walking to join him. He extended the cards to Drake, who looked them over for a decent amount of time. Finally Drake's eyes lit up and he selected the card he wanted and put it in his hand. The two then returned to their places and Rikuo slipped the five cards back into his pocket.

"Thanks for the card Rikuo. I play it now, Return of Tribute! I'll discard one card to revive Twisted Spellweaver and Refined Spellweaver to the field. Only I'm comboing it with Amendment to change it's effect. Now both my spellweavers will be back for good instead of being destroyed at the end of the turn!" Rikuo grimaced as he counted up the total attack points on the four monsters that Drake had managed to summon in one turn. Together they had nine thousand attack powers, enough to defeat him in this turn. That meant it was all over, just because he had held back a little bit. He had unleashed almost all of his power in his combo to get out Wolf Demon Avatar and destroy the barriers, but now it was too late. Maybe if he had just tried harder he would have won.

_'I can't believe it's about to end. Shot down by some duelist nobody has ever heard of and who only recently appeared in the dueling world. The great Rikuo Amero, general of thousands of battles, victor of hundreds of darkness games. I defeated Sestros, I beat Valeus and won the Game of the Gods. But here I am in the last moments of a duel with some punk kid I just met who's about to wipe the floor with me. How did it come to this?'_ He turned his gaze away and closed his eyes, ready to take the attack that would end the duel. It was all over for him, he had failed.

"This is the power of my chaos Rikuo! This is what happens when you face me without using the fullest extent of your power! This is me dueling at my maximum, and now you face the consequence of holding back even by the smallest fraction! Unity Magic Attack!" The four magicians raised their weapons to the sky and sent streams of energy up above them, colliding together to form a mass of pure magical energy. It was easily the size of a car by now, and still growing. Finally it stopped at about the size of an SUV, and the magicians dropped their staffs towards Rikuo, sending the ball of energy hurtling towards him.

The magic attack collided with him, blasting him off his feet and backwards by several meters. He slid to a stop and coughed up some soot, watching as the last bits of energy faded. He pushed himself to his feet and then started to chuckle. Drake raised an eyebrow, confused as to why Rikuo was laughing. "What's so funny?"

"I'm laughing at myself really. I was so stupid right before the attack that I forgot about something that had happened the first time I had to discard thanks to your weavers. At the very last moment I remembered, and I was able to activate a very special effect. That of Super Electric Turtle(0/1800) to negate one attack. That means your Black Magician of Chaos didn't connect it's own attack, and I'm still in this." He raised his duel disk to show Drake his current life point total. Low though it was, it was definitely better than zero, so now he had a chance to recover. And now he knew he couldn't hold back even for a moment or he would lose. (RLP: 1250)

Drake grinned at seeing how Rikuo had managed to survive. It was truly impressive that Rikuo hadn't been defeated by that assault of powerful monsters. It had taken a lot of effort to set up that combined assault, and Rikuo had managed to save himself from defeat, and it was thanks to Drake's own monster effects. 'I think this could be it. Continuing under such an assault is amazing. If he can make a defense for himself then I'll know for sure. This is going to be the ultimate duel I desire!'

"This duel keeps getting better and better. But believe me, my chaos magicians won't be defeated easily. I've got one last move to make, and then you can take your turn. Better hope it's a good one, or you're going to lose in my next turn." The two grinned confidently at each other, both of them planning how to take the other down.

"This is the thirteenth turn Drake, so if you believe in superstition one might say it was bad luck for me and that's why I lost so much of my life points. But I'm not one to believe in that sort of thing and I doubt you are either. I know it happened because I still doubted your strength, but now I know for sure that you're at least as strong a duelist as I am. Of course we're going to have to figure out which of us is the stronger. So bring whatever moves you want, I'll still defeat you!" He raised a clenched fist in a gesture of challenge, and Drake brushed his leather trench coat back, sending it flaring outwards. The duel was heating up once again.  
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Author's Notes: Yeah, I know Rikuo lost a lot of life points in this one thing. Just don't complain okay, I'm quite good at scripting duels and I know what I'm doing. Probably....either that or I'm making it up as I go along.

Time Mage: See, you were right. He was holding back, both were. But even in this chapter Rikuo held back a little and payed for it. One last thing: Who the hell is that morman dude you mentioned?

Voidtemplar: See, Drake evened the odds. And Drake also appreciates the support.

Gryphinwyrm7: No biggie about Invader, I'm probably the only one who noticed. Oh, and I'm sure Rikuo appreciates the support.

Wolf General: Good thing Daniel is around to keep Rikuo in line neh?

Original Cards(Again, Rikuo's cards are his unless stated otherwise)

Drake: Twisted Spellweaver, Shot From The Dark, Magician's Cross, Negative Morality, White Magician of Chaos, Amendment

Rikuo: Nightmare Machine, Wolf Demon Lord, Lord's Ascension, Chain of Tornadoes, Wolf Demon Avatar, Safeguard, Return of Tribute(used by Drake)


	5. Power of Recycling

Author's Notes: More dueling! Yay! 

Chapter Four: Power of Recycling

_"This is the power of my chaos Rikuo! This is what happens when you face me without using the fullest extent of your power! This is me dueling at my maximum, and now you face the consequence of holding back even by the smallest fraction! Unity Magic Attack!" The four magicians raised their weapons to the sky and sent streams of energy up above them, colliding together to form a mass of pure magical energy. It was easily the size of a car by now, and still growing. Finally it stopped at about the size of an SUV, and the magicians dropped their staffs towards Rikuo, sending the ball of energy hurtling towards him._

_The magic attack collided with him, blasting him off his feet and backwards by several meters. He slid to a stop and coughed up some soot, watching as the last bits of energy faded. He pushed himself to his feet and then started to chuckle. Drake raised an eyebrow, confused as to why Rikuo was laughing. "What's so funny?"_

_"I'm laughing at myself really. I was so stupid right before the attack that I forgot about something that had happened the first time I had to discard thanks to your weavers. At the very last moment I remembered, and I was able to activate a very special effect. That of Super Electric Turtle(0/1800) to negate one attack. That means your Black Magician of Chaos didn't connect it's own attack, and I'm still in this." He raised his duel disk to show Drake his current life point total. Low though it was, it was definitely better than zero, so now he had a chance to recover. And now he knew he couldn't hold back even for a moment or he would lose. (RLP: 1250)_

_Drake grinned at seeing how Rikuo had managed to survive. It was truly impressive that Rikuo hadn't been defeated by that assault of powerful monsters. It had taken a lot of effort to set up that combined assault, and Rikuo had managed to save himself from defeat, and it was thanks to Drake's own monster effects. 'I think this could be it. Continuing under such an assault is amazing. If he can make a defense for himself then I'll know for sure. This is going to be the ultimate duel I desire!'_

_"This duel keeps getting better and better. But believe me, my chaos magicians won't be defeated easily. I've got one last move to make, and then you can take your turn. Better hope it's a good one, or you're going to lose in my next turn." The two grinned confidently at each other, both of them planning how to take the other down._

_"This is the thirteenth turn Drake, so if you believe in superstition one might say it was bad luck for me and that's why I lost so much of my life points. But I'm not one to believe in that sort of thing and I doubt you are either. I know it happened because I still doubted your strength, but now I know for sure that you're at least as strong a duelist as I am. Of course we're going to have to figure out which of us is the stronger. So bring whatever moves you want, I'll still defeat you!" He raised a clenched fist in a gesture of challenge, and Drake brushed his leather trench coat back, sending it flaring outwards. The duel was heating up once again._

"Alright Rikuo, I'll end my turn by playing the last card in my hand. A permanent magic card called Effect Economics. As long as it's in play neither of us has to pay life points to activate effects. Now see if you can recover from the trouncing I just gave you." Drake finished his turn and then drew a card, giving him another option to play with when it became his next turn. Supply Lines, despite its usefulness, was starting to get on the wolf-demon's nerves. Sure it helped him as well, but he'd rather his opponent didn't get any help. Not with the added draw power of the twin spellweavers in the mix.

Rikuo rolled his eyes when the field became a dark yellow and immediately started drawing for a monster. He got the routine by now and it was starting to get annoying. Every single turn he had to draw more cards and discard. At least this time he only had to discard one card before reaching a monster. That meant more luck for him. "I'll start by summoning X-Head Cannon(1800/1500) in attack mode." The purple bodied cannon machine appeared in front of him and leveled its weapons at Drake. His reason for summoning it in attack mode was about to become clear.

"First I play this magic card which you've helped me gain the power to pay for since I don't have to pay at all. Shield of Revealing Light. As long as it's in play you can't attack at all. It normally costs one thousand as upkeep per turn, but your Effect Economics saves me from paying that cost." A glowing barrier was revealed in front of him, of blue and white. It would keep Drake from attacking him, but it wouldn't save him forever. Sooner or later Drake would find a way around it, just like he had found a way to defeat Drake's barrier combo. It was only a matter of time.

"I have no intention of losing any more cards to your two monsters. So I'll have X-Head Cannon blast Refined Spellweaver into oblivion!" The machine turned its cannons to face the magician. Then it launched its energy attack, sending it screaming straight at Drake's weakest monster. When it was within just a few inches of the magician Drake's face down card was revealed.

"I could destroy your monster right now, but I'd rather get rid of the permanent problem of your Shield before it even effects me. So I use my face down Dark Magic Revival to play Mystical Space Typhoon from my cemetery." A bolt of lightning shot out from Drake's card and skewered his new shield, blowing it away. Now he had no defense, but the attack of X-Head Cannon went unheeded and blew Refined Spellweaver straight to hell. Although it wasn't much damage, it was the first damage Rikuo had dealt in the whole duel, and he needed it. (DLP: 6800)

"Nice move Rikuo. Oh, and since Mystical Space Typhoon has fully resolved the effect of Dark Magic Revival now places it in your cemetery." The punk duelist sent the card spiraling towards the wolf-demon duelist who caught it easily and then shoved it into his cemetery slot. Although Drake's spellweaver monsters were now separated, Drake didn't seem too bothered by it. Then again, he still had his two chaos magicians with twenty-eight hundred attack power each.

_'Once again he proves clever. He could have brought back Shrink and destroyed my X-Head Cannon, but then he would have been stuck waiting and hoping for another way to blow up my shield. Instead he took the first opportunity and shot it down before I even got a chance to use it. But that cleverness can be his own undoing so long as I play it right.'_ Rikuo smirked and slid a card into his disk, watching as it appeared face down on the field in front of him. That was all there was between him and Drake's mighty chaos monsters.

Suddenly something clicked for Rikuo, and he understand more of Drake's strategy. "I get it now! Playing Mystical Space Typhoon from the grave using Dark Magic Revival, getting it back with Black Magician of Chaos, taking my magic card with White Magician of Chaos, Shot From The Dark...it's all part of your sub-theme! Your deck is based around magicians and recycling your magic cards in and out of the cemetery. A Recycling Deck....I've never faced anything like this before."

"I'm surprised you managed to figure it out so quickly. Most people never really think of it at all. They just know I keep having the cards I need over and over again. That separates you from most of my opponents in the past. But just knowing that won't help you, you'll have to find a way around it if you think you can do something." Rikuo just smirked, countering Drake's smirk with his own. Both of them had to admit they were having fun, and neither would be had the stakes been higher. Each of them could remember duels where lives had been on the line, where lots of pain was involved and there was no time for fun. But now they could just sit back and enjoy themselves, taking their dueling skills to the absolute limit.

Now it was Drake's turn and the two of them were drawing for a magic card. But this time Rikuo didn't have to discard since Refined Spellweaver wasn't a threat anymore. Drake carefully examined his hand of cards and then shrugged before raising one hand and thrusting it palm out towards Rikuo. "Attack him directly!" The three monsters all raised their weapons and launched individual energy attacks at the wolf-demon and his X-Head Cannon. If these attacks connected it would be over for Rikuo.

"Reveal reversed card, Mirror Force!" Drake grimaced as the easily recognizable trap erected a barrier in front of his monster's attacks and then reflected them all back. In moments his monsters were all destroyed under the power of Mirror Force, and he had walked directly into it like an amateur. That was what his confidence gave him, a taste of dust and the destruction of some of his best monsters.

Rikuo smirked at Drake's despair, and then decided to rub it in. After all, there was no point in not rubbing it in while he still held an advantage. "Pathetic. Your own cleverness got you into trouble. I was certain you'd find a way to destroy my Shield of Revealing Light, so I set Mirror Force for when you did. I knew that as confident as you were you'd run right into it. Anything else you wanna do?" He crossed his arms smugly, awaiting Drake's next move. Whatever it was, Rikuo knew he could handle it.

Drake rolled his eyes and then took a look at his hand of four cards. He still had options to work with and hadn't summoned this turn, so he was in the green. "You know Rikuo, if you ever have a kid I'll bet they'll be really vindictive. Anybody pisses them off for any reason and I'll be they'll even blame on that person's grandkids." Chuckling he picked out a card he wanted to play and then casually placed it onto his duel disk.

"My next monster is called White Magic Summoner(1200/500), and he'll be the cause of your demise sooner or later." Drake's newest monster was a small white robed magician who didn't look like he could bring anybody's demise. The magician didn't look like a threat at all, not with such puny stats.

"My X-Head Cannon can crush your little summoner with ease. I don't see it causing the demise of any of my monsters in the future, let alone myself." He smirked and crossed his arms over his chest, confident that he now had a distinctive advantage. If Drake thought he could recover by summoning a wimp like that he had another thing coming.

"Remember the Howling Sword Rikuo? Well you aren't the only one who uses equip cards, so I'll boost my monster with Magician's Tome, rocketing his attack power to nineteen hundred!" A large locked book appeared in front of the magician. It magically unlocked itself, and then the White Magic Summoner began to flip through the pages at incredible speed. The more it looked through it the more its power grew until it finally settled at a power of nineteen hundred as it finished reading the book.

"You may have boosted your monster to a strength past my own, but you've already conducted your battle phase for this turn. So I've got another turn to take that thing out before it can even try and come after my life points." Drake just grinned and took one of the cards from his hand, slipping it into his own duel disk. The smirk that was starting to spread across Drake's features told Rikuo that he may have spoken too soon.

"I activate Renew Battle! This will allow one monster on my field to attack again this turn, even though the battle phase is ended! So White Magic Summoner will crush your X-Head Cannon!" The magician smirked at Rikuo, and then snapped its fingers. Suddenly a massive dragon appeared above it and sent a stream of fire at the machine. Rikuo's monster was melted into scrap metal and the dragon faded away. (RLP: 1150)

"What the hell was with that dragon? I thought your monster was a magician, so where did the dragon come from?" Drake ran his fingers through his hair, holding back a laugh. He wasn't sure how much he should say, because he wasn't familiar with a few things about Rikuo and...certain other things.

"You've never played Final Fantasy have you?" By the blank look Rikuo was giving him he knew the truth. The wolf-demon duelist had indeed never played the greatest RPG of all time. Oh well, that wasn't a big deal. "Okay Rikuo, since White Magic Summoner dealt damage I get to add a magic card from my deck to my hand."

He ejected his deck from the holder and started scanning it, looking for a very specific card. Once he spotted it he plucked it out and added it to his hand. Lastly he reshuffled his deck and replaced it into his deck slot. "Here it goes, I activate Chaos Renewal! This allows me to revive one monster with 'chaos' in its name from the cemetery or special summon one from out of play. So I'll bring back my Black Magician of Chaos(2800/2600)!"

The leather wearing magician reappeared on the field, restored from his demise in the out of play pile. Now not only had Drake gotten back his favorite monster at no cost thanks to Effect Economics, but he got to take a magic card from his grave and add it to his hand. _'It's over. All he has to do is take back Renew Battle and I'm finished. Damn it...'_

"By the look on your face I bet you think I'm going to take back Renew Battle. Well I would, but unfortunately the effect of Renew Battle can't be stacked. It says one monster once in a turn and it means it. So even if I grabbed it I couldn't play it yet. As that's the case I'll just place a card down on my field. Back to you wolfy." Rikuo heaved a sigh of relief, happy that he got to take another chance to turn this duel around and defeat his opponent.

The wolf-demon grabbed his next card and smiled on the inside as no aura appeared. It was satisfying to not have to do a bunch of drawing in a turn, something he hadn't gotten a chance to do in quite a long time. His new card however changed that. "Pot of Greed. And of course you know what it does."

The other duelist nodded, and Rikuo slipped two cards off the top of his deck. That gave him a total of six cards, and looking over them he got a really nasty idea. This was going to be good. "I'll start off by playing Magic Shard Excavation! So I'll dump two cards to take back a magic card from my graveyard!" He picked his two cards and then inserted them into the graveyard, then ejected another from it and added it to his hand.

He looked at Drake's set card and then smirked, certain that he knew exactly what it was. Drake would have been playing it down for later, and since he was on the offensive there was no reason for it to be a defensive card. That could only mean it was one card. "I bet you forgot something Drake, otherwise you wouldn't have let me play Magic Shard Excavation. Your face down card is without a doubt Negative Morality, but it seems to have slipped your mind that the card I needed went to my graveyard thanks to you!"

Drake's eyes widened as he realized exactly what Rikuo had been talking about. He had been tricked into allowing Rikuo to use Magic Shard Excavation because he had been confident that whatever he took could be negated with Negative Morality. But it was his own card that he couldn't stop. "Go Mystical Space Typhoon! Blow away his Negative Morality!" Drake could have chained, but that would have been stupid, so he just let it be destroyed.

"This is the card I wanted to keep you from negating. And it's going to be the cause of your demise! I activate Monster Reborn and call back my Wolf Demon Avatar(5500/3000)! This time he won't be going anywhere anytime soon!" For the second time in the duel the massive beast took his place on the field, his power easily dominating the field. Not even the strength of Drake's two magicians combined could defeat this mighty creature.

"You're right Drake, the power of recycling is a deadly weapon. One that I've learned to use as well! Oh, and I think I'll counter your equip card with one of my own. So first I normal summon Z-Metal Tank(1500/1600) and then I add Black Pendant to him, boosting him to two thousand attack strength!" The tank monster appeared next to and beneath the massive demonic wolf, its power seeming pathetic compared to the other monster. A little pendant appeared and attached to its chest, raising its attack by five hundred.

_'I've got no face down cards. There's no way to stop his attacks!'_ Drake grimaced, realizing that his entire field was just about to be cleared of monsters, and he was about to take a significant amount of damage. Rikuo had just proved his power and was about to make his awaited comeback.

"Wolf Demon Avatar, crush Black Magician of Chaos. Z-Metal Tank, destroy White Magic Summoner. Put his life points within striking range of your power!" Wolf Demon Avatar swept downwards with its claws, slashing Black Magician of Chaos into tiny pieces. Meanwhile Z-Metal Tank had run over White Magic Summoner and was backing up to finish the job. Drake grimaced as his life points took a dip. (DLP: 5000)

Rikuo opened his mouth to complain about the lessened damage, but Drake got there first. "Don't complain about my life points wolf boy. When Magician's Tome hits the cemetery I gain one thousand life points, hence the difference." The demon duelist snarled once again, his patience wearing thin, and declared the end of his turn. He had the advantage, so there was no need to dwell on a little bit extra. Next turn he'd crush Drake.

Drake snapped the top card off his deck and then added it to his other two cards. He looked them over for several seconds and then slid two of them face-down on the field. They appeared in front of him and Rikuo was certain he saw a slight smile twitch on Drake's face. "Those two face down. Now I activate this field magic card, Recycling Bin!"

A massive swirl of energy lit up the field, and swarmed in around them. Rikuo had no idea what was happening, but knew that it couldn't be good for him. _'He's got a sub-theme of recycling his cards, and now a field card called Recycling Bin? This doesn't bode well at all.'_ Finally the energy died down, and what appeared before them was a giant green recycling bin. That was all. No other special effects.

Rikuo raised an eyebrow at the giant bin and then cast his gaze upon Drake. "That was sort of...anticlimactic. Since that was your last card, I guess it's my turn right?" The punk duelist nodded his head, and Rikuo started off. He'd only have two cards in hand to use to deal with this threat, but with the power he already had he was sure he'd easily be able to deal with this new field card.

"Hehehehe. Just in case you can stop me, I've got this for later. Its name is Reduce Cost, and it lets me reduce the summoning requirenment for a monster at a cost of one thousand points. Since I've got two monsters on the field it lowers it not by one, but by two. If I only had one monster or none it would just be one lowered cost. Thanks to that I can summon Irios the Steel Monarch(2700/2300) at no cost!" Rikuo's machine was humanoid in shape, and seemed to formed of cogs and gears like what one might seen in an old clock.

"Luckily for you a monster summoned by Reduce Cost can't attack the turn it hits the field. So I'll just rip you apart with Wolf Demon Avatar and Z-Metal Tank!" The two monsters raced off to make their attacks, and Z-Metal Tank collided with Drake, knocking him backwards. The avatar's claws soared through the air and were about to strike Drake when a mechanical magician appeared in front of it, its face like a mirror. (DLP: 3000)

"You may have struck me with your tank, but my first face down card is Mechanical Magic Mirror. Using it I play Safeguard from your cemetery, protecting me from the damage that would have been dealt by Wolf Demon Avatar." The demon pulled his arm back and waited for Rikuo to announce his next move. Before Rikuo could say anything else he watched Drake rise to his feet and depress the other button on his duel disk.

"I'll reveal my other face down card. Emergency Rations! I'll get rid of my Recycling Bin in order to gain one thousand life points." Rikuo quirked an eyebrow in surprised as the giant recycling bin faded off the field, thereby restoring some of Drake's life points. Life points he definitely needed. (DLP: 4000)

"Why in the world would you put your field card into play and then destroy it?" Drake smirked as he picked his Recycling Bin card off his disk and held it up so that Rikuo could see it. And with his keen demon eyes Rikuo was able to plainly read the text on the card from here, and he wasn't happy with what he saw. Not happy at all.

"As you can plainly see, as long as Recycling Bin is in play there is no cemetery, all cards are considered to be in the bin. But when Recycling Bin leaves play all cards in the bin, which was all cards in both of our cemeteries, are reshuffled into our decks. And of course I gain one hundred life points times the number reshuffled. So get shuffling and give me those life points." Rikuo growled deep in the back of this throat over Drake's gain in life points. He then took his graveyard and shuffled it into his deck while Drake did the same. (DLP: 9800)

_'All that effort to drop his life points and then he turns it around in one move and boosts his life points past the starting amount. At least I've got the consolation prize of how my deck restored, but so does he. This duel could last for quite some time.'_ Once the two were finished shuffling it was time for Rikuo to finish his turn. Since he had no more cards in his hand there was nothing left he could do, so he finished up and drew a new card.

Drake placed his fingers on the top card of his refilled deck and flashed Rikuo a smirk. "With our decks replenished and my life points restored, things are going to change. Get ready Rikuo, because it's a whole new game!" XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Notes: Hehehe. I just love Recycling Bin. Anyone who has read my first story will now I changed Recycling Bin from a permanent mgaic card to a field card. Shouldn't be a big deal.

Wolf General: Hehehe. I'm not really surprised that you're rooting for Rikuo. But believe me, it won't be easy for him to win. Drake is a tough cookie.

Original Cards(again, most of Rikuo's will be Wolf General's)

Drake: Effect Economics, White Magic Summoner, Renew Battle, Chaos Renewal, Negative Morality, Recycling Bin

Rikuo: Shield of Revealing Light, Wolf Demon Avatar, Reduce Cost(mine), Irios the Steel Monarch, Safeguard(used by Drake)

Anime Original Cards

Drake: Dark Magic Revival, Mechanical Magic Mirror


	6. Game of Destiny

Author's Notes: Considering that the duel has lasted about 3 and 1/5 chapters so far and is probably only about half-way finished, I'm impressed. It's longer total than any of my regular chapters, so I anticipate that even in my normal style it would take about two chapters to fully write out. I also guestimate a total of about 8-10 chapters for this duel. Hehehe. 

_Chapter Five: A Game of Destiny_

_"I'll reveal my other face down card. Emergency Rations! I'll get rid of my Recycling Bin in order to gain one thousand life points." Rikuo quirked an eyebrow in surprised as the giant recycling bin faded off the field, thereby restoring some of Drake's life points. Life points he definitely needed. (DLP: 4000)_

_"Why in the world would you put your field card into play and then destroy it?" Drake smirked as he picked his Recycling Bin card off his disk and held it up so that Rikuo could see it. And with his keen demon eyes Rikuo was able to plainly read the text on the card from here, and he wasn't happy with what he saw. Not happy at all._

_"As you can plainly see, as long as Recycling Bin is in play there is no cemetery, all cards are considered to be in the bin. But when Recycling Bin leaves play all cards in the bin, which was all cards in both of our cemeteries, are reshuffled into our decks. And of course I gain one hundred life points times the number reshuffled. So get shuffling and give me those life points." Rikuo growled deep in the back of this throat over Drake's gain in life points. He then took his graveyard and shuffled it into his deck while Drake did the same. (DLP: 9800)_

_'All that effort to drop his life points and then he turns it around in one move and boosts his life points past the starting amount. At least I've got the consolation prize of how my deck restored, but so does he. This duel could last for quite some time.' Once the two were finished shuffling it was time for Rikuo to finish his turn. Since he had no more cards in his hand there was nothing left he could do, so he finished up and drew a new card._

_Drake placed his fingers on the top card of his refilled deck and flashed Rikuo a smirk. "With our decks replenished and my life points restored, things are going to change. Get ready Rikuo, because it's a whole new game!"_

The magician duelist drew his card and lifted it up so he could get a good look at it. Then he threw back his head and started to laugh. Rikuo groaned, knowing that laughter was never a good thing. "I can't believe it! My first time playing this card and watch what happens. Go Supply Lines!" He smirked as the card resolved and went to the cemetery, its effect now covering the field.

"Wait a second. Isn't the effect of Supply Lines already active? I could have sworn you said it was a normal magic card. That would mean that even though it got taken out of the graveyard we'd still have to follow its effect." The big grin on Drake's face told him he wasn't going to like what was to be said. He hoped he wasn't right about what Drake was going to tell him.

"You're right Rikuo, it hasn't faded. But since Supply Lines has been played a second time its effect stacks. Now we must each draw two cards during the end phase of our turns!" Rikuo grimaced even though he knew it would help him as well. It seemed that most of Drake's plays required multiple cards to be effective. So getting three cards each turn would definitely help him out. Rikuo didn't have as many obvious combinations, so it just gave him extra cards.

"Now that we've gotten that little technicality out of the way, I'll set a monster on the field and end my turn. Of course now I draw two cards as per the effect of the two Supply Lines that have been activated during this duel." He snapped two more cards off his deck, giving him brand new options. Now it was Rikuo's turn to see what he could make of this so-called 'brand new game.'

The wolf-demon grinned at the sight of his newly drawn card, knowing full well that he was about to have a full army of monsters at his command. Meanwhile Drake only had one monster in defense mode and no cards on the field. This game was in the bag. "I summon Wolf Demon Soldier(1400/1200)!" The demonic armored wolf took shape, making it Rikuo's fourth monster

"Now it looks like the duel is over! Z-Metal Tank, destroy his face down monster!" The tank rolled right over Drake's defense monster, which immediately shattered into thousands of pieces. Suddenly it reformed into another face down horizontal card. "What the hell? I just destroyed it!"

"You did, but my monster was Apprentice Magician(400/800) which lets me special summon a level two or lower magician from my deck when it is destroyed in battle. So bring on your attacks!" Rikuo snarled, realizing that if Drake had two more of those things in his deck then he'd be able to fully block each of his monster's attacks. Or Drake could have placed a monster with a flip effect, who knew what could happen.

"Screw waiting, I'll crush them all! Wolf Demon Soldier will start off my attack rampage, then Irios will follow it up and Wolf Demon Avatar will end it!" The soldier raced out and smashed apart Drake's set monster, which was then replaced by yet another face down one. It too was destroyed by Irios' metal fist and replaced. Finally Wolf Demon Avatar trashed the fourth monster with a swipe of its claws.

"That last monster was a special one. It was called Sage of Everlasting Light, and when it's flipped I get to flip a coin. If I call it correctly I draw five cards, if not I discard five. Considering my recycling strategy, all in all it'll help me either way. So I call heads!" He took a coin out of his pocket and tossed it high in the air, watching is it came spiraling down. Drake caught it in his open palm and then held it up for Rikuo to see the face looking back at him.

Rikuo growled in frustration as his opponent drew his five free cards in one pull, giving him a massive hand of seven cards. He'd have so many combinations in the next turn that Rikuo could only hope he would be able to last against them. "I place a card face down and end." Then he too drew two cards, restoring part of his hand.

Drake picked his next card and then fanned out his massive hand of eight cards. He looked through them all, weighing his options before he finally settled one a card to play. He smirked widely and pressed a button on his disk, opening the side slot of his disk. Rikuo grimaced, because he knew what that slot was for. "Shortly we'll find out whose destiny is strongest Rikuo. Mine or yours. Because I activate the field magic card Destiny's Way!"

The entire room was suddenly darkened and filled by a path constructed of glowing stars. Everything was illuminated by the glowing pinpoints of light and their marvelous energy. Rikuo didn't even want to know what a field card with that kind of name could do. "This field card will determine who has true strength as a duelist and which of us is most determined to win. Our decks will answer our call!"

"Destiny's Way requires me once per turn to declare a number of life points I'll pay in increments of two hundred up to a total of one thousand. Effect Economics negates that cost. I also must name a type of card: magic, trap, or monster. Any card we draw that isn't of the named type gets discarded. You ready?" Rikuo grimaced, knowing that with the double draw at the end of the turn and this card in play there was a chance that this power could deck one of them out easily enough.

"I declare magic and now we must each draw five cards! So let us begin!" The two duelists swiftly picked up their five cards and fanned them out to take a look at them. Rikuo's jaw dropped as he saw exactly what he had drawn. Dark Catapulter, Bronze Wind-Up Knight, Silver Wind-Up Knight, Blowback Dragon, and Quicksilver Orb. All monsters!

Drake chuckled as he watched Rikuo shove his entire drawn hand into his graveyard. Then he added his other cards to the new hand of five and smirked broadly. "Looks like my destiny and strength as a duelist is greater. I drew three magic cards!" The wolf-demon snarled, knowing that he was in trouble now. If he was right Drake used more magic cards than anything else, so it was most likely he'd easily be able to draw the cards he wanted, whereas Rikuo had an even chance of having to discard cards.

"I play Magic of Revival to special summon a magician from either cemetery. I call back Chaos Magician(2400/1900)! Then I activate Instant Replay, reusing the effect of Magic of Revival to restore my Chaos Magician Girl(2000/1700) to the field! Husband and wife together!" Rikuo grimaced as the two monsters rose onto the field, but knew that his monster was still the strongest. Wolf Demon Avatar couldn't be defeated easily.

"Chaos Magician Girl gains three hundred for every card removed from play. I have two, you have five. So that's seven. She now has forty-one hundred attack power. But that's not my plan at all. I'll show it to you shortly after playing this card: Shrink! I'm sure you'll remember its power lets me reduce your Wolf Demon Avatar to a squealing weakling." The mighty demon ruler reduced in size until he was scarcely bigger than Wolf Demon Soldier.

"Next I summon Scholarly Magician(900/1500) in defense mode. He may seem weak, but he'll prove deadly as this duel progresses." Drake's newest monster was a nerd, plain and simple. He wore rumpled robes like he hadn't payed attention to them in a while, had glasses on the bridge of his nose, and was surrounded by a pile of spellbooks, and was idly flipping through them. Rikuo raised an eyebrow, curious as to its usefulness.

"Now I'm going to special summon another monster through its own effect. This monster is more powerful than any creature you could possibly imagine. You'll soon find out why. I must sacrifice two high level magicians to summon it, so I offer both magicians to summon Sorcerer of Dark Magic(3200/2800)!" The two magicians vanished, and were replaced by a fearsome looking monster wearing teal robes and wielding a pronged staff. With thirty-two hundred attack power he could easily crush the weakened Wolf Demon Avatar.

"This next card is the reason I didn't use Chaos Magician Girl for the attack. It's Diffusion Wave-Motion! Its cost is negated by Effect Economics, but it requires a level seven or higher magician to play it with. And Sorcerer of Dark Magic fulfills that cost. Now he'll destroy every single monster on your field!" The mighty magician raised his teal staff and sent what looked like streams of electrical energy shooting out of it. He swept it across the monsters and blew each and every one of them away. It would also have crushed his life points.

Rikuo smirked and raised his duel disk to proudly display the exact same number as before. "Safeguard shields me from one instance of damage, and since you attacked with one monster it was one instance. So while I lost my monsters I didn't lose any life points. Plus I get a few new things. Black Pendant deals you five hundred damage and Wolf Demon Soldier lets me special summon Wolf Demon Lord(2400/1000) to the field." Rikuo's physical avatar took shape and flicked Sorcerer of Dark Magic off, obviously not caring that it was stronger. (DLP: 9300)

"You saved yourself again Rikuo. But do you honestly think you can keep this up? End turn." Then he drew two more cards, giving him a total of six left in his hand. Rikuo was surprised. All of those cards and Drake couldn't set a single one of them? Pretty sad for him, not that Rikuo was going to complain. He smirked and drew his card.

Casually Rikuo drew his next card and looked over his hand of three. He didn't have much to work with, but he'd try it all out anyways. "I set up two cards and place a monster face down. Now Wolf Demon Lord will destroy Scholarly Magician. Howling Sword!" The demon swung his sword and unleashed a stream of phantom flames. Suddenly a glowing rainbow colored barrier appeared and absorbed the blast. "But you had no set cards!"

"I don't, but I told you Scholarly Magician would make this game interesting. His infinite knowledge of magic lets me activate a magic card from my hand during your turn at any time. And all of my magic cards become quick-plays. The card I played was Mirage Magic, which negates the attack and increase my life points by that amount." He grinned and displayed his own duel disk just like Rikuo had done a few moments before. Instead of a steady amount it increased until it was once again annoyingly high. (DLP: 11700)

With no cards left in his hand, Rikuo had to end his turn. Then of course he drew two new cards, and glanced down at his dwindling deck. This was going way too fast for his taste, hopefully he could get rid of at least Destiny's Way. Drake glanced at his new card and smiled._ 'This is going perfectly. Not only do I have him on the run but with Destiny's Way in play I can easily get the cards I need.'_

"I declare magic, so draw your cards Rikuo. Five once again." They took five new cards off the top of their decks and surveyed them. Finally the both discarded three, meaning the two of them had only drawn two magic cards. Rikuo felt grateful that Drake hadn't drawn more, but wished the other duelist hadn't drawn any.

"Sorcerer of Dark Magic will wipe out most of your life points by destroying Wolf Demon Lord!" Once again the supreme magician unleashed a stream of lightning energy, intent on destroying Rikuo's duel monsters avatar. But he was ready for it, because he had two face down cards. The duel was about to even up.

"Activate Drill Mirror Force! This trap will negate your attack and destroy your monster. Then you'll take its attack points as damage to your life points!" He threw back his head and laughed as the barrier rose up, ready to obliterate the Sorcerer. However to his surprise it thrust its free hand forwards and the barrier shattered like a bubble, allowing the energy attack to destroy his demon.

"Sorcerer of Dark Magic can negate and destroy traps that are played at my command. He may be harder to summon, but overall he's stronger than Jinzo. Not that it matters now that the duel is over." Rikuo chuckled and waved one finger back and forth, clucking in a disappointed manner.

"Shame on you Drake, for thinking I can lose so easily. Like all my other opponents you were caught off guard by my demon's effect. When he is destroyed I don't take damage at all. So looks like I'm still in this duel." He smirked and folded his arms, awaiting Drake's next move. He might not be able to play traps now, but he could still protect himself. And all he had to do was summon a monster more powerful than Sorcerer of Dark Magic and he'd be able to recover.

"Your field is about to be emptied really quickly! I activate Renew Battle! Sorcerer of Dark Magic, blast his face down monster into oblivion!" The sorcerer extended his arm, palm facing out, and unleashed a wave of power that blew his monster into a million pieces. It was briefly revealed to be some kind of silly looking train, and then it was gone.

"You flipped Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive(1400/1000). When flipped I can draw a card. You don't have to worry about the second effect though as it doesn't matter right now. You done?" Drake slipped two cards onto his duel disk and then nodded, showing that his turn was indeed finished. Rikuo idly thought to himself that so was he if he didn't figure a way out of this mess and do it soon.

The wolf-demon duelist stared at his newest card and then looked back at the rest of his hand. He looked up and around at the dueling field, and then down at his duel disk. More specifically at his cemetery slot. "It could work...okay! I play Sacrificial Boost. I'll discard Perfect Machine King to raise my life points by its attack power of twenty-seven hundred." He dumped the card into his grave and relaxed as his life points rose. (RLP: 3850)

"Next I'm going to play a card you should remember. Reduce Cost. Since I don't have any monsters in play it just reduces the cost by one summon. However I activate Replay. Normally this costs half my life points but your economics card saves me that payment. I replay Reduce Cost so I can summon this monster, Barrel Dragon(2600/2300)!" The giant machine dragon stomped onto the field and loaded its barrels, ready to fire away at Rikuo's command. Sadly it couldn't attack this turn.

"Remember how Reduce Cost keeps the summoned monster from attacking? Well I don't care about that. I just needed Barrel Dragon on the field so I could play this card. Spiritual Fusion! I can fuse one monster on the field with one in my grave, and I choose to target Blowback Dragon. Together they form Gatling Dragon(2600/1200)!" The two creatures merged together and finally formed into a huge hulking behemoth of a monster. It was decked out in so much weaponry that it barrel looked like it could move.

Drake raised an eyebrow in surprise. This wasn't a monster he had ever heard of. 'A twenty-six hundred attack power monster fusing with a twenty-three hundred one and the result is twenty-six hundred? Its effect has got to be its strong point...but what is it?' Drake had a bad feeling he was about to find out.

"Ready to suffer under Gatling Dragon? Well here is it's power! I can now flip three coins, and for every result that is heads I can destroy one of your monsters. All I need is one and I'll be happy, so let's give it a toss!" He picked three coins out of his pocket and threw them into the air, watching as they all came clattering down on the ground. One of them had the wrong side facing up, while the other two were heads. Rikuo smirked as his monster began to creak.

"Gatling Dragon, blow both of Drake's monsters straight to Hell!" The creaking halted and suddenly the dragon opened fire. A rain of bullets and missiles swarmed across the field, creating a huge explosion that continued for several seconds. Rikuo couldn't see Drake's field at all under the maelstrom of explosions. But when it all faded away Drake didn't have any monsters left at all.

"Perfect! Gatling Dragon, attack Drake's life points directly!" He smirked as once again the machine dragon opened up on Drake, spraying bullet after bullet and missile after missile at the punk duelist. However at the last moment a golden barrier rose up around Drake, keeping the explosions from touching him. Yet from what Rikuo felt, it wasn't an effect. It was magic. (DLP: 9100)

"You've got magic?" Drake smirked and a spot on his shirt shimmered. A small golden disc appeared on it, hanging on a simple chain around his neck. Rikuo recognized it, as he had once in the past experienced a taste of a similar item's power. He cursed violently, realizing that this duelist was more than he had thought.

"One of The Seven. You're one of the reincarnations or something aren't you?" Drake shrugged and grinned at Rikuo, obviously not wanting to talk about. The wolf-demon growled, knowing that if this had been a regular battle he might actual be defeated by this human. From what he knew of the power of the Millennium Disc it was nearly unlimited power. Even he couldn't defeat that kind of strength.

"Fine, my turn is over. But keep in mind that I'll go medieval on your ass next turn once again. This duel is going to be mine sooner or later. Just wait and see!" Wit the declaration of his turn's end he got to draw two cards. But suddenly Drake's face down card flipped up, and the entire field shimmered and revealed Drake's monster, totally unharmed.

"Thanks to Mirage Ruler you didn't attack me or my monsters. You attacked our mirages. So I've still got my monsters and my life points, all it costs is one thousand life points. Of course I don't have to pay that at all, now do I?" Rikuo snarled like the wolf-demon that he was, knowing that his move had been bested. And since he only had one monster and one face down card the next move was going to be trouble.

'_One card allowed him to bypass all of my efforts of this whole turn at absolutely no cost? Damn it...that card is powerful. Then again, some of the cards I've thrown at him have been extremely powerful as well. Wolf Demon Avatar, my Legendary Weapon card. Yet despite it all he keeps on coming. If I don't find a way to shut him down quickly I'm going to lose this duel!'_ The demonic general stared at his measly hand of two, trying to see a way in that hand to defeat his opponent.

"It looks like you don't have a leg to stand on Rikuo. Maybe you should use your tail. Now watch as I show you the ultimate in power. In this turn I'm going to unleash upon you the power of my strongest monster. In moments you'll witness the god of all magicians!" XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Notes: I realized something while doing this chapter and looking back on Drake's duel with Kai where both Recycling Bin and Destiny's Way are revealed. I never said that either was a permanent magic card or field card. I had Recycling Bin down as a permanent magic, but Destiny's Way as a field. In this I just ended up making both field cards.

VoidTemplar: It is annoying. At least it didn't really start over, just both got their cards back.

WolfGeneral: Thanks for the support on my illness. Glad you liked the Eri comment. :)

Gryphinwyrm7: You know, I can't even type your name, I have to cut and past it. Another fan of the Eri comment. And as for Hell Meteor, honestly I haven't decided if I'm going to have Rikuo use it or not. After all, there's lots of discarding going on.

Original Cards(the same message)

Drake: Supply Lines, Sage of Everlasting Deck, Destiny's Way, Magic of Revival, Instant Replay, Chaos Magician Girl, Scholarly Magician, Renew Battle

Rikuo: Wolf Demon Soldier, Wolf Demon Avatar, Safeguard, Wolf Demon Lord, Drill Mirror Force, Sacrificial Boost, Reduct Cost(mine), Replay, Spiritual Fusion

Anime Original Cards

Drake: Mirage Magic, Mirage Ruler

Gatling Dragon: Its true! This card recently came into existance with the Japanese expansion set Flaming Eternity. Cool huh?


	7. The God Of Magicians

Author's Notes: Wow...these cards are pretty crazy. Just wait for it. Oh, and if a few chapters ago I claimed Magician's Cross was mine, sorry about that. It was a mistake. Magician's Cross is the creation of the great Kazuki Takahashi, creator of Yu-gi-oh which I do not own. 

_Chapter Six: The God Of Magicians_

_"It looks like you don't have a leg to stand on Rikuo. Maybe you should use your tail. Now watch as I show you the ultimate in power. In this turn I'm going to unleash upon you the power of my strongest monster. In moments you'll witness the god of all magicians!"_

"Now, I'll begin this turn by declaring something new. Monster! Draw your five cards Rikuo!" The wolf demon did so, and finally picked up his cards and discarded three of them. Right in front of him the magic wielding duelist did as well. On the other hand Drake was now holding a total of eleven cars as opposed to Rikuo's measly five.

The demon duelist gulped as he felt something flicker through Drake's cards. Like a heart beat. Something was calling out to him from his deck and his hand, somewhere from Drake's cards it was coming. Some deep and hidden power waiting to be released. "This is it Rikuo. I'll begin by activating Call of the Abyss! I'll discard my two new monsters in order to place two monsters from out of play into my hand."

When Drake pulled the two cards out of his pocket Rikuo knew for certain. The pulsing was coming from those two cards, and it was echoing with Drake's own energy. Those cards were calling to his own heart, to his very soul. And there was a great power flowing between the three. "Now I've got all I need to defeat you. But first I summon Guardian Magician of the Night(1900/1400) to the field."

The new monster wore a robe of a pitch black night with stars on it, but Rikuo's attention wasn't on it at all. He could still feel that energy flow between the two cards and Drake, and he was awaiting the moment when that power within the cards would be unleashed. "The time is now Rikuo! I'll create my God right here and now, with this magic card: Chaos Fusion!"

A giant vortex appeared on the field, swirling around as the powers began to combine. Rikuo could already feel the swell of power and Drake hadn't even combined his monsters yet! Whatever this fusion was, it wouldn't end well for him, that he was sure of. "Combine yourself together my two ultimate monsters! The dark power of chaos, Black Magician of Chaos! The surging joy of light in chaos, White Magician of Chaos! Fuse yourself together and bring order from that chaos! Unleash the ultimate power of the God of Magicians!"

The two named magicians appeared on the field and leapt forwards, into the mass of energy. The pulsing came from within that vortex as the two powers joined forces, creating something of enormous power. This monster was something primal that he couldn't explain, an ancient force unleashed in Duel Monsters form. "Arise my greatest magician! I now unveil the Supreme Sage of Balance(4000/4000)!"

Now Rikuo understood why he had such a feeling of primal fear at the energy he was sensing. It was this mighty creature that had been considered only a legend by demons and humans alike in this time. A monster with the power to purify the hearts and souls of anything it touched, or purify them out of existence. It was like killing, only nicer. If something like that could be said. _'I can't believe it...the creature exists.'_

The creature standing before him was humanoid in shape, but seemed to be formed of pure light. Either that it or it was shining so brightly that he couldn't distinguish any specific features. It stood about twenty feet tall, and though it wasn't the most massive of creatures he'd ever seen, it seemed to tower over the field. And its gaze seemed to be judging him. _'Why the hell is it looking at me like that? Is it really a hologram or something more?'_

"Amazing that this mighty magician resided inside my very soul isn't it? Now watch the power of my supreme magician. Scholarly Magician, Guardian Magician of the Night, and Sorcerer of Dark Magic will offer themselves to him!" The three named magicians vanished and turned into balls of light. One black, one blue, and one teal. The three balls of light flew towards Supreme Sage of Balance and were absorbed into his body. He grew in size, and his light blazed up even more.

"His effect allows him to absorb attack points equal to one hundred times the level of monster he absorbs. He must be the only monster in play. He gains the special effects of any monster he absorbs. So watch as his power rises. Supreme Sage of Balance(5600/5600) has more power than your avatar did, and it will just continue to grow. Of course you'll learn its full power soon enough." Rikuo grimaced, realizing that this monster could quickly surpass even his strongest monster if he didn't stop it.

_'It just absorbed Sorcerer of Dark Magic so it can cancel out my trap cards. Because of Scholarly Magician he can still play magic cards from hand, and I don't have a clue what that other magician does. Sheesh, how am I supposed to defeat this thing?'_ He was going to think about the situation more, but Drake cleared this throat, bringing his attention back to the actual game.

"If you're done daydreaming, it's time for me to purify your machine. Supreme Sage of Balance, cure Gatling Dragon of the taint that corrupts it! Purifying Touch!" The sage raised one arm and gestured, causing a divine glow to surround the mechanical monster. Its entire body seemed to fade away, leaving nothing in its wake. Rikuo grimaced as his hard earned life points drifted away. (RLP: 850)

"Supreme Sage of Balance took the common effect of its components. Any monster destroyed by it is removed from play. It also prevents the out play pile from ever being accessed again by either of us." Drake smirked wickedly, and Rikuo began to wonder just how many effects this damned thing had. He also wondered how it had been so easy to summon. It had just need three cards to play.

"How in the hell did you get that thing anyways? Two monsters and one special fusion card for a monster of that type of power? There has to be some kind of draw back!" Drake sighed and nodded his head, causing Rikuo to silently cheer. He had known there had to be a draw back, now he just needed to find out what.

"The fusion components and any monsters it absorbs are removed from play and can never be put back into play in any manner. I also must offer a magician to it each turn or it will die. But I don't think that's going to be a problem. You won't last long with it in play." With that Drake's turn was at last over, and now he had eight cards in his hand. He didn't even need to set cards to protect his magician god, it was that powerful.

_'Okay. Think Rikuo. You've faced a lot of challenges before and you've beaten them all. Hell, you defeated Valeus' Apocalypse Dragon. Of course you don't have Fenrir right now, so that's pointless. What would Daniel do in this situation?'_ Rikuo's eyes widened suddenly with the insight, and he smirked. It was a smirk of evil, one that said he knew exactly how do defeat his opponent. All he had to do was draw the right card.

"This is my one chance! Draw!" Drake's eyes widened as he felt a huge surge of power from his opponent. It was beyond anything he'd felt from the demon. It had to be his true power, the ultimate energy that Rikuo possessed. A true duelist's power. _'Top deck...'_

"I activate Monkey Wrench! It would cost one thousand points, but your Effect Economics saves me from paying the cost. Now I can take three machines from my cemetery and add them to my hand." He ejected his cemetery and searched through it. He had plenty of monsters to choose from, but he had three specific ones in mind. It took him a little searching to find them all, but soon enough he had them.

"Next up I discard Mecha Technician(300/500) from my hand to special summon up to three level four or lower machine sub-type monsters from my hand. They can't attack at all or be sacrificed. Generally they are just around for defense. But the monsters I brought back and am summoning are X-Head Cannon(1800/1500), Y-Dragon Head(1500/1600), and Z-Metal Tank(1500/1600)!" The three alphabet monsters appeared on the field, ready and able to take the battle to Drake.

"X, Y, and Z will combine themselves into one creature and form XYZ-Dragon Cannon(2800/2600)!" The three monsters came together to form the mighty behemoth that was the combination of the three. Similar to Valkyrion and Gate Guardian in how they combined, this monsters effect was what made all the difference. Hopefully it was an effect that would allow Rikuo to destroy Supreme Sage of Balance.

"I'll discard a card to activate XYZ's effect. Now blow up his sage and burn its ashes into the ground!" The combination monster armed itself and launched a missile barrage at the towering magician god. However at the last moment the missiles simply blinked out of existence and the Sage was perfectly fine. Drake flipped a card from his hand around and revealed it, Negative Morality.

With his chance at victory shot down Rikuo lowered his head. Drake sighed, knowing that without the power of XYZ-Dragon Cannon Rikuo had no way of winning. And since XYZ was in attack mode it would be easy prey for his Supreme Sage of Balance. "Sorry Rikuo, looks like this duel is coming to a close. There's nothing left you can possibly do."

Drake leaned in closer as he heard a strange sound. It was like...something shivering or something. It was too quiet for him to hear. "Rikuo, is that you? What the hell is that noise?" The noise grew louder, and Drake recognized it, though he didn't understand. The wolf demon was snickering, and it was growing into a chuckle, then into all out laughter.

"You've done it again Drake! You outsmarted yourself in the same way you did last time! You wasted Negative Morality when the real thing I wanted to do wasn't use XYZ-Dragon Cannon. I just needed it on the field for this next card. I activate the ritual magic card, Hope of Faith! This requires a single monster as sacrifice, so say goodbye to XYZ-Dragon Cannon and hello to the cause of your demise!" The union monster shattered into thousands of pieces, only to be replaced by a shimmering column of energy of a red color.

The red beam of energy suddenly separated and moved to each side of Rikuo. One column of black energy, and one of white. Slowly the lights dimmed to reveal two warriors, both handsome. The first wore black armor and held a sword in his hand. His eyes opened to reveal a similar gold color to Rikuo's. "I am Yami Knight(6000/0)!"

The compatriot of the powerful knight opened his own eyes, showing a brown color. He wore the opposite of Yami Knight's armor, as he was dressed all in white. The warrior held his sword out in front of him and declared in a commanding voice his identity. "I am Hikari Knight(0/6000)!"

"Drake, your Supreme Sage of Balance is powerful, but the warriors of light and dark have descended into this duel! Together they will be the defeat of your monster. Cross your blades my knights, and prepare for battle!" The two warriors did as he said, and the moment their blades touched Drake felt a power extraordinarily similar to the power of his Supreme Sage of Chaos. These monsters were just as real as his own!

"Impossible! How could one single ritual card with such a small cost summon monsters of such incredible power! These two must have a draw back of their own." Rikuo smirked and shook his head, revealing that they had no draw back. Drake backed up a step, realizing that his Supreme Sage of Balance was weaker than Yami Knight. If it successfully completed an attack his ultimate magician would be defeated, and he had no idea how he would recover from that.

"With the presence of these two knights your monster is doomed! Yami Knight, cut down his Supreme Sage!" The knight started to raise his blade, but suddenly a piercing sound filled the air. The two knights grimaced, covering their ears to shield themself from the sound. Meanwhile the wolf-demon with his sensitive ears was crouching with his hands pressed to his head, desperately trying to block out the sound.

Drake grimaced, not wanting to inflict pain to his opponent. He wanted a clean duel. "Cut the sound! Damn...sorry Rikuo, I didn't think of your hearing. I played Command Silencer from my hand, so your monsters couldn't hear your orders. It also lets me draw a card...but I had no intention of doing that to you." The wolf-demon shook himself and rose back to his feet, ready to continue.

"That's fine Drake. I assume since Command Silencer was played I can't continue attacking." The punk duelist nodded, and Rikuo accepted this. Finally Rikuo placed a card down on his field, showing that his turn was over. And last but not least he drew two more cards from his rapidly dwindling deck. Hopefully he'd be able to finish off Supreme Sage of Balance soon, otherwise he was in trouble.

_'I've still got another chance here. If Drake can't draw a monster he'll be in serious trouble. So long as he doesn't get lucky he'll have to sacrifice his own Supreme Sage of Balance. With Destiny's Way he has a better chance of drawing one, but if he can't summon it then I'm fine. All I've got to do is hope.'_ He stood at the ready, waiting for Drake to take his move and show him if his destiny was strong enough to maintain the god magician.

The magician duelist looked at his newest card in his hand of eight and then back up to the field. Finally he made his declaration, just as Rikuo had suspected. "I declare monster. Time to draw our five cards." The two duelists grabbed their next five cards, and after a bit of examining they each tossed four of them aside. Rikuo just had to hope that the monster Drake had drawn was a high level monster or had a special summoning cost.

"Before I continue I guess I'll just have to play this card. Last Ditch Recycling Efforts. I must take four cards in my hand and remove them from play. And thanks to Supreme Sage of Balance those cards will never be accessible again." He picked four cards out of his hand and shoved them into his pocket, then watched his field carefully. This was his moment of truth, he just had to make it work.

"Its effect makes me flip a coin. If the outcome is heads I get to shuffle all cards in my cemetery back into my deck. If not, my life points are automatically cut in half. So let's see what happens!" He picked his coin up and instead of flipping it he threw it directly at Rikuo, sending it spinning at great speed towards the wolf-demon. Using his superior reflexes Rikuo caught the caught, holding it in his palm, unwilling to open it.

"Well, here goes nothing." He slowly uncurled his fingers in order to reveal the outcome. And when he did he wished he hadn't opened them. The coin was facing him with heads up, and that meant Drake's entire deck was about to be restored. "Go ahead Drake, return your cemetery back into your deck." The punk duelist did so, and then drew his next card.

"I almost forgot to mention this. Once during each of my turns I must remove the first monster in my deck from the game. My monster gains that removed monster's abilities, however, it doesn't count as the offering to keep it in play. It happens to be the second form of payment for my monster. But since only a few monsters of mine are out of play, I've got lots of options. Let's see what the first one is shall we?" He picked up cards off his deck until he reached a monster. Then he showed it to Rikuo.

"Chaos Magician Girl. That means my monster gains the special effect of increasing its attack by three hundred for every removed card. Pretty devastating isn't it? Now let's start counting shall we?" The two duelists took their removed from play piles out of their pockets and counted up the cards. In the end it was revealed that Rikuo had nine cards removed from play. X, Y, Z, and all the cards that Drake had removed. Drake had ten cards. A total of nineteen.

"With nineteen cards removed from play my monster gains quite a bit of attack power. Watch the energy of my Supreme Sage of Balance(11900/11900) grow!" Eighteen spheres of energy flowed out and entered the sage's body, increasing his size and brightness. The worst aspect was that his attack power had more than doubled in a single turn. It was easily strong enough to defeat Yami Knight.

"Oh yeah, did I neglect to mention that when Supreme Sage of Balance has a monster removed for this upkeep effect I gain that monster's attack points? Plus during each turn I gain twenty-five life points for every card that is removed from play. Meaning in this turn my life points are increased my a total of two thousand four hundred and fifty points. Watch it rise!" Rikuo gasped in shock at seeing his opponent's life points raise yet again. With that many abilities Supreme Sage of Balance truly was a god! (DLP: 14175)

"Let's not forget the sacrifice shall we? I summon Skilled Chaos Magician(1800/1600) to the field in attack mode! Now I offer it to keep my sage in play and increase his attack power! Since he's removed from the game, that means more life points for me next turn. That is, if there is a next turn!" The golden robed magician that Drake summoned quickly became a glowing sphere of light and was absorbed into the now giant form of Supreme Sage of Balance(12300/12300).

Rikuo stood strong, just waiting for Drake to attack. The punk duelist saw the confidence that Rikuo held and he felt that he knew the cause. Rikuo was going to accept his defeat like a man, and that was fine with Drake. "I'll give you a man's defeat! Supreme Sage of Balance, use Purifying Touch to remove Yami Knight from the game!"

The sage raised on arm, and a holy glow started to surround Yami Knight. Suddenly Hikari Knight shoved his brother out of the way and absorbed the rays of holy energy. His pure holiness seemed to keep him from succumbing, and when the light faded Hikari Knight was still standing. "You cannot defeat my brother so easily! As long as I am here I will take any attack that you throw at him!"

The dark armored knight stood up and stepped beside his brother, raising his blade to cross it with Hikari Knight's. Then he sneered and spoke up. "And as long as I empower my brother you cannot defeat him in battle, regardless of how powerful your monster is! Together we are unstoppable!" Rikuo smirked at hearing his own knights explain their effects for him, and couldn't help but be happy about the dumbfounded look on his opponent's face.

"I guess your monsters are stronger than I would have thought. Considering that Supreme Sage of Balance requires he be the only card I can play on the field, that means my turn is over. The only card that will remain is my set card and Effect Economics because they were in play before Supreme Sage of Balance hit. But luckily the effect of Scholarly Magician will allow me protect the sage since he has that power. You're still stuck Rikuo, and my magician cannot be defeated!" He picked up two new cards, and now it was Rikuo's time to shine. He had to hope he could find a way to eliminate this ultimate monster or he would lose.

The wolf-demon duelist placed his fingers on his deck, ready to draw. And then he began to have doubts. He could imagine a way to handle this situation. Short of something like an infinite loop, which he had no way to form in his hand, there seemed to be no possibility of defeating the insanely powerful monster. Every turn it just got stronger, and Drake's life points were reinforced.

It wasn't just that either. He knew that he could stall for quite some time with the abilities of Yami Knight and Hikari Knight active. But Drake had just restored his deck, and only the cards in his hand, field, and out of play were no longer there. Meanwhile Rikuo only had nine cards left in his deck. So on his third turn after this one in the end phase he would lose because he'd have to draw two cards and wouldn't have a deck.

He'd been in a similar situation against Sestros. He had gotten down to his final cards, and in the end he had managed to win simply because Sestros had imbued his monster with the soul of Daniel. Had he not done so there would have been no way for Rikuo to have won. But this wasn't a darkness game, and no technicality was going to get him out of the hole he was in.

Everything in this duel was going to have to come down to one moment and one draw. Although in reality it didn't matter if he won or lost, Rikuo felt that this duel was the challenge that he had been needing to revitalize him. If he could win then he'd feel ready to reenter the world and start really dueling again. He had decided to stop dueling after his match with Daniel, just because of one reason. That match had been a parting gift between the two of them and Rikuo had been tired of duels with insane stakes.

_'Who am I kidding. A challenging duel isn't what's been holding me back from reentering the dueling world. It's been me the whole time. I've been too worried about the potential threat, that somehow the moment I did so something terrible would happen. All along I've been afraid of that.'_ The wolf demon raised his head and stared proudly across the field at his opponent, his body radiating confidence and his energy on the upsurge. Drake felt the wolf's power stirring.

"I've been cowering from myself for far too long! Now the time has come for me to change that, so I'm going to keep dueling until the very end. Despair is meaningless, because even if I lose I'll have come out of it a better duelist. Now is my moment to see everything I've ever done in a duel come together. DRAW!" XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Notes: Damn...that Supreme Sage of Balance really is broken. So please, don't complain because I know that. On the other hand it has just as many costs as it does powers, although one of those costs, a life point upkeep, is being negated by Effect Economics. Hope you enjoyed the story so far, because I believe only two chapters remain.

Wolf General: And that going and going is going to come to a close within two more chapters. Ciao.

Time Mage: Yeah, I know that. But honestly this duel is not entirely scripted. I have a list of both decks and most of the cards they draw are random, so the combos become pretty impressive. There are certain situations where I've had to force something, but eh, you know how it is.

Original Cards(same again)

Drake: Call of the Abyss, White Magician of Chaos, Chaos Fusion, Guardian Magician of the Night, Scholarly Magician, Supreme Sage of Balance, Last Ditch Recycling Efforts, Chaos Magician Girl, Skilled Chaos Magician, Negative Morality

Rikuo: Monkey Wrench(DMGirl7113), Mecha Technician(mine), Hope of Faith, Yami Knight, Hikari Knight

Anime Original Cards

Drake: Command Silencer


	8. Ultimate Duel!

Author's Notes: Rikuo unleashes power beyond his maximum! Read and enjoy! 

_Chapter Seven: Ultimate Duel!_

T_he wolf-demon duelist placed his fingers on his deck, ready to draw. And then he began to have doubts. He could imagine a way to handle this situation. Short of something like an infinite loop, which he had no way to form in his hand, there seemed to be no possibility of defeating the insanely powerful monster. Every turn it just got stronger, and Drake's life points were reinforced._

_It wasn't just that either. He knew that he could stall for quite some time with the abilities of Yami Knight and Hikari Knight active. But Drake had just restored his deck, and only the cards in his hand, field, and out of play were no longer there. Meanwhile Rikuo only had nine cards left in his deck. So on his third turn after this one in the end phase he would lose because he'd have to draw two cards and wouldn't have a deck._

_He'd been in a similar situation against Sestros. He had gotten down to his final cards, and in the end he had managed to win simply because Sestros had imbued his monster with the soul of Daniel. Had he not done so there would have been no way for Rikuo to have won. But this wasn't a darkness game, and no technicality was going to get him out of the hole he was in._

_Everything in this duel was going to have to come down to one moment and one draw. Although in reality it didn't matter if he won or lost, Rikuo felt that this duel was the challenge that he had been needing to revitalize him. If he could win then he'd feel ready to reenter the world and start really dueling again. He had decided to stop dueling after his match with Daniel, just because of one reason. That match had been a parting gift between the two of them and Rikuo had been tired of duels with insane stakes._

_'Who am I kidding. A challenging duel isn't what's been holding me back from reentering the dueling world. It's been me the whole time. I've been too worried about the potential threat, that somehow the moment I did so something terrible would happen. All along I've been afraid of that.' The wolf demon raised his head and stared proudly across the field at his opponent, his body radiating confidence and his energy on the upsurge. Drake felt the wolf's power stirring._

_"I've been cowering from myself for far too long! Now the time has come for me to change that, so I'm going to keep dueling until the very end. Despair is meaningless, because even if I lose I'll have come out of it a better duelist. Now is my moment to see everything I've ever done in a duel come together. DRAW!"_

"I'm about to undo the damage you've done Drake, and I'm going to send it all right back at you! I'll start by sending a monster from my hand to the cemetery. It's called Magic Disabling Team-B(300/600)!" He shoved the named monster into his cemetery, and suddenly a group of blue, green, and yellow men appeared. Each one wore a hard hat and was busy at work pounding away at the ground around Drake. By the time they were finished a little mechanical device sat there, and it was generating a weird energy field around Drake.

"Magic Disabling Team-B allows me to keep my opponent from activating magic cards for one full turn. All I have to do is discard them from my hand just like I did. So I have no fear of you playing magic cards from your hand!" Drake smirked, still completely aware of the power he possessed. Obviously he didn't feel any fear from Rikuo's play, and why should he?

"My Supreme Sage of Chaos(12300/12300) is way too powerful for that to make any difference. You've got no chance of defeating it, because now that it has absorbed five monsters it gains immunity from directly targeted magic and trap cards. Pretty impressive huh?" Rikuo just smirked, not really minding the yet again increased power of Drake's god monster. It didn't matter to him at all.

"All of your efforts are going to come crashing down in just a moment. But before I commence with thrashing your supreme monster I'm going to summon Mechanical Chaser(1850/800) to the field for later. Once I've rid myself of your magician I'll use it to attack you directly." The spindly armed monster appeared, and was greeted with a brief bow from Hikari Knight and complete disregard by Yami Knight. Meanwhile the machine was being stared down by the power of Supreme Sage of Chaos who was nearly ten times as strong.

"You thought your god was enough to save you didn't you? Well I'm going to prove you wrong right here and now! My draw rewarded me with the single card that could turn this duel around, and I'm going to show it to you! Polymerization!" Drake felt the enormous surge of power as the warp vortex appeared on the field. Suddenly his eyes fell upon the two knights, and he felt fear.

"I'll combine Yami Knight and Hikari Knight in order to create a fusion of darkness and light. Like your sage it is an embodiment of balance. Mine a warrior, yours a magician. Let's find out which one is stronger shall we?" The two named warriors jumped straight into the vortex much like Black Magician of Chaos and White Magician of Chaos had done for Drake. Their bodies combined together, and when the light faded the supreme monster of Rikuo's deck emerged.

The knight that was revealed had black and white armor, with a helmet covering its face. However, one golden eye and one brown eye could be seen from underneath it. In the left hand of the monster was a golden shield, and in the right hand a silver sword. It was nowhere near as large as Supreme Sage of Chaos, but that didn't seem to bother it at all. "Now that my brother and I have combined we have become Balance Knight(20000/20000) the ultimate weapon of balance. And we shall destroy your monster of balance. Balance Wave!"

The knight swept his blade down and sent a stream of energy towards the sage. The magician didn't even bother to block it, and the two powers of balance warred against each other for just a brief moment before the power of Balance Knight won out. Drake was blown backwards by the pure power of the strike, even with an energy barrier erected. "Now you see the power of my Balance Knight." (DLP: 6475)

Drake couldn't help but be astounded by the amazing power he had just witness. "Damn...and now that my Supreme Sage of Balance is destroyed it will leave play and take my entire field with it. However I'm chaining Magical Return, my face down card, to bounce Effect Economics back to my hand." All of the cards on his field, including Destiny's Way, were completely obliterated, drawn in by the fading light of the sage. In the end Drake had nothing left to work with.

"Let's keep you on the run shall we? Mechanical Chaser, direct attack!" The machine shot one of its arms out, catching the unprepared Drake off balance and spinning him around till he fell to his back. Rikuo smirked at seeing the entire situation turned around and his opponent the one in dire straights with no field and his life points unprotected. (DLP: 4625)

Drake stared widely at the field, his which was now blank and Rikuo's which was now contained two monsters, one with a ridiculous amount of attack strength. His hand had absolutely no way to defeat it, and now he knew how Rikuo must have felt earlier facing down his Supreme Sage of Balance. _'But he defeated my Supreme Sage, so there must be a way in my deck to defeat his Balance Knight. I just have to hope I draw it.'_

"I can see you shaking Drake, so I guess I'll end my turn. After I place two cards face down that is. Let's see if you can handle the awesome power of my Balance Knight." He gave the knight a thumbs up and got a brief bow in return. Then he picked two more cards up off his deck, leaving him with only six cards left. Hopefully with the power of Balance Knight he could defeat Drake before it was too late.

The punk duelist glanced at his newest card and then threw back his head to start laughing. It was absolutely perfect. "Balance Knight has enough power to end this duel for any duelist who uses him, or so I'd assume. Now let's find out if that power can be lent to me! Play of Rebellion will turn your monster against you and have it attack Mechanical Chaser!"

The massive knight turned to face Rikuo, and the demon grimaced. Balance Knight thrust its sword out at the machine, however it suddenly exploded, crying out in pain as it was burned by the flames. It managed one last thing before it was gone. "I believe in you Rikuo, I know you can win." Then it was no more.

"Drake...you made me destroy my own monster. Widespread Ruin allowed me to destroy the strongest attacking monster, which was my own Balance Knight. Now the question is, can you handle my Mechanical Chaser, or can't you summon? You did remove a lot of cards from your deck after all." The magician duelist growled, though not in the way Rikuo would. He was just irritated that Rikuo was right.

"I play two cards face down, and then I'll reactivate Effect Economics. End turn." The three cards appeared on his field, two of them only visible as floating brown back cards, and the third face up. As per usual Drake drew two more cards, giving him a hand of five. Then he picked up the top two cards of his deck and slipped them into his back pocket.

"So long as Supreme Sage of Balance remains out of play, which is for the rest of the game since the out of play pile can't be accessed, I must remove the top two cards of my deck from the game during each player's end phase. Go ahead Rikuo, take your turn." The demon smirked at the sight of Drake in such a sore position, but was well aware that he couldn't win this as easily as he might have hoped. His best chance at winning was gone, and he had only a few turns to win.

Rikuo picked up another card and stared at it. Finally he flashed Drake a smirk, knowing that the duel was his. "This monster has special meaning to me for reasons that I won't begin to explain. All you have to know is that it will be the cause of your defeat. I sacrifice Mechanical Chaser for Jinzo(2400/1500)!" The green armored android rose up in place of the spindle-armed machine, and a glow appeared around Drake's face down cards.

"Jinzo, Cyber Shock Attack!" The android formed a ball of black energy between his hands and then threw it straight at Drake. The magician duelist crossed his arms over his body and readied himself as the blast shot right at him. It exploded across his arms, forcing him backwards slightly. He wasn't hurt, but the damage was dealt. His life points were nearly equal to Rikuo's now. (DLP: 2225)

"With Jinzo in play I don't really need to bother with face down cards considering they would just get in the way. I might need those magic and trap zones for later in the duel. So that means my turn is over." He picked up his next two cards, well aware that despite how close their life points were now, all Drake had to do was last a few more turns and Rikuo would lose. Now he had just three cards left in his deck.

"Now that you've ended I have to remove two more cards. But while I'm at that, why don't you let me in on how many more cards you have in that deck of yours?" Rikuo rolled his eyes and held the disk up. He then took the deck out and fanned it out so Drake could see it. He stared the other duelist right in the eyes, knowing that Drake was just going to be smug about it.

"As you can plainly see I only have three cards left. So all you have to do is wait me out. Aren't you proud?" Drake raised an eyebrow and kept looking at the cards. Then he started laughing. Rikuo wasn't in the mood to be laughed at so he growled at his opponent. If the idiot kept this up he was going to get Rikuo's fist in the face.

"Rikuo...did you bother to count or did you just think that was the right number. Look at those cards, you've got four left, not three. Although it isn't really that much better than you thought it was." The wolf checked the cards he had fanned out, and realized that his opponent was right. He had miscounted on how many cards were left in his deck, and he did ineed have four cards remaining. Not that it was going to make a huge amount of difference.

"Well you were right Drake. Now take your damned turn. This duel only has a few more turns left altogether, so we might as well end it now right?" The other duelist nodded and picked up his next card, giving him a hand of five cards. He blinked slightly and then started to check each of his cards, chuckling as he surveyed them. And as per usual, chuckling never boded well for him.

"You're right Rikuo! Together the two of us have set up the perfect situation where it becomes impossible for you to win! With Jinzo on the field your two face down cards are useless, just like my own face down cards. This is your last turn, so watch my power unleashed!" Drake took the first card from his hand of five and held it up over his head, power surging around it.

"It's time to show you a power beyond even that of my Supreme Sage of Balance and your own Balance Knight! This monster is capable of easily crushing either of them under the right circumstances. I summon it forth, Blood Magician-Magician of Purgatory(1400/1700)!" Rikuo blinked as a fog started covering the ground around them, making it impossible to see their own feet.

"This magician has a dark past. He watched his entire family slaughtered before his very eyes, and has forever sought out revenge. He requires blood for that revenge, hence his name. He garnered such a name for himself in both heaven and hell from his exploits that neither realm could decide whether he was right for them. Their choice was to take him from the land and send him to purgatory where he could never do any more damage. But now he's back, and he's out for your blood!" Drake laughed as the fog began to concentrate itself in one area.

The fog rose up and took the form of a six foot tall human. It coalesced into a blue skinned magician wearing scarlet robes. In his left hand he held a deadly looking two-sided scythe, which looked capable of rending flesh with ease. "What can that monster do? It's attack power is one thousand less than my Jinzo's."

"I told you heaven and hell feared him, and that's why he went to purgatory. The reason was because of his infinite power that allowed him to strike down any foe. He could destroy the entire world with his incredible power! Now I'm going to show you how!" Rikuo gulped at the word infinite, and could only hope that he was wrong. If he was right, then this would prove deadly to him.

"First I activate School of Black Magic! For every five hundred life points I pay I can add a magic counter to a monster on the field. Effect Economics negates that cost, so I can generate as many magic counters as I wish. Now I'll generate infinite tokens and place them all onto Blood Magician!" A swarm of energy beads surrounded the magician and soared into his scythe. It was like a constant stream of energy, fireflies flying to their demise as they were absorbed into Blood Magician's deadly weapon.

"Blood Magician's effect allows me to remove magic counters to destroy a monster with an attack equal to or less than seven hundred times the number of counters removed. It would take just four counters to destroy Jinzo, but I have no intention of destroy it at all, even though I could. Because Jinzo will protect Blood Magician from your face down cards!" The magician duelist grinned, ready and willing to take down Rikuo. And the wolf knew this could only get worse.

"Time to complete the deadliest combination in my deck. My Infinity Blood Loop! Now I play Magic Magnification Device! This permanent magic card will grant all monsters on my field two hundred attack points for every magic counter on them. So let's see, infinite counters equals how much of a bonus?" The wolf snarled, trying to figure out a way to defeat the monster already. Because with the combination of infinite magic counters and Magic Magnification Device Blood Magician(Infinite/1700) had enough power to defeat any foe.

"Blood Magician, it's time for you to go to work. End this duel my magician, Inferno of Blood!" The magician nodded and stepped forwards, its power raging in a torrent of flame that surrounded its scythe. As soon as it struck with that weapon Rikuo was going to lose. And now it was swing its blade straight down!

"I activate Distraction Device! Negate his attack!" The scythe stopped in mid-strike as a little box appeared in front of it. Blood Magician leaned forward to investigate and was rewarded by a big glove rocketing out and smacking him in the jaw, sending him stumbling backwards to his starting position. Rikuo had been saved.

"A quick-play card huh? Well I doubt you have any others in your deck, so it won't matter. I had been hoping to end this duel without you decking out, but I guess that's no longer an option. Your turn Rikuo." With his turn over Drake took two more cards off his deck and added them to his hand, and then took another two and put them in his pocket with his fast growing removed from play pile. Rikuo wasn't counting, but it was probably around twenty cards by now.

The wolf-demon grabbed his next card, leaving him with only three cards. At the end of this turn that would be just one card left, enough for his next turn's draw and then nothing after that. Hopefully he would be able to end the duel before his next turn's end phase. "I summon Gold Wind-Up Knight(1500/1500)."

A golden toy like machine appeared in front of him next to Jinzo. It didn't look like much to fear, but Rikuo needed it this turn. It was going to help him win the duel. "Now I'm going to defeat your infinite loop here and now! I equip Jinzo with Howling Sword, rocketing his attack power to sixty-eight hundred!" The weapon appeared and was picked up by the android who had his attack sent skyrocketing. Of course it was nothing next to infinite power.

"And how is that going to defeat my infinite loop? You'd need more power than that to defeat a monster with infinite attack strength. Hell, you'd need an infinite loop of your own to defeat it." The demon duelist smirked and took another card from his hand. His confidence shocked Drake, who realized that he was about to see more of Rikuo's true power.

"Speaking of infinite power, here's the magic card Limitless Power! Every time I pay one thousand life points I can reuse the effect of one equip card. Now I equip Limitless Power onto Jinzo, and I'll begin the infinite loop!" A massive blue aura appeared around Jinzo, causing its power to fluctuate. Sensing another incredible power the Blood Magician flared its crimson aura, matching Jinzo(Infinite/1500).

"Luckily for you the second effect of Howling Sword can't be used unless the first is. So the moment it hit infinite attack power I couldn't add one thousand to it. That means I can't get double infinite power. Truly a pity." Drake couldn't help but be impressed by Rikuo taking out his infinite loop with one of his own creation. He never would have thought it possible, but it appeared that it was true.

"This is awesome! Rikuo, this is truly the ultimate duel! Bring on your Jinzo and I'll confront it with my own monster! Two infinitely powerful monsters clashing on the field as the two duelists look on! This is what dueling is all about, moments like this when the duelists surpass all previous expectations!" Rikuo couldn't help but grin at how excited Drake was. To meet a duelist who enjoyed dueling this much was just a treat for him, and he started to want to experience this kind of challenge whenever possible.

"A duel of this caliber is truly rare Drake. So I'm going to make this one worth everything I've got and more! Jinzo, attack and destroy his Blood Magician! Howling Shock!" Jinzo raised the Howling Sword and then swung with it, sending a stream of blue energy out at the magician. The energy attack was so big that it covered everything else on the field.

"I'll counter your attack with one hundred and fifty percent! Blood Magician, counterattack with Inferno of Blood!" The crimson robed magician swept his scythe horizontally, sending a wave of red energy right back at Jinzo. The two energies collided and struggled against each other, creating a huge light show that looked like it was going to break the holo-projectors. It was that impressive.

The two attacks countered each other in every way, and in the end neither could win out. The attacks exploded, covering the field with a dome of light that shielded everything within from sight. Eventually it faded, and nothing was left of the two infinitely powerful monsters. And Rikuo's two cards went to the cemetery. Unfortunately for Drake his hadn't been equipped, so his field was still full of cards.

"Gold Wind-Up Knight will try for a direct attack!" The toy knight jumped across the field and slashed Drake across the shoulder with its blade. He grunted, but otherwise he didn't admit to any pain. He was a tough person and wouldn't willingly show any weakness. Not that it mattered to Rikuo, as the damage was done all the same. (DLP: 725)

"All I've got left in my hand is one card, so I'll set it for later. Now it's your turn Drake." His card appeared next to his original face down card, each to one side of Gold Wind-Up Knight. Then he picked up two of the last three cards in his deck, leaving him with only one draw in the entire game. Meanwhile Drake had to remove two of his own cards from the top of his deck, thereby reducing it in size as well.

"I've really enjoyed the entire duel Rikuo. Although its about to end I feel that this has truly been the ultimate duel that I've desired for so long. Regardless of the outcome I feel happy about it. Thanks for the duel, now let's see if I can end it!" XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Notes: Next chapter is the end of the duel, so I hope everyone has enjoyed it all so far. Let's see where this leads shall we?

Time Mage: See, everything works out just fine. Drake wasn' toying with Rikuo at all, he was bringing his best.

WolfGeneral: Climactic end next chapter.

Gryphinwyrm7: Indeed, they all are. At least SSoB has lots of detriments as well as you see more of in this chapter. You take Hell Meteor way to lightly you know that right? 

Original Cards(same as normal)

Rikuo: Magic Disabling Team-B(mine), Balance Knight, Distraction Device, Howling Sword, Limitless Power(mine), Gold Wind-Up Knight

Drake: School of Black Magic, Magic Magnification Device, Effect Economics

Anime Original Cards

Drake: Play of Rebellion


	9. Two Duelists, One Destination

Author's Notes: This is the final chapter of this story. That is, unless I decide to do more crossover duels between my fic and Wolf General's. Hope you all had fun reading it. 

_Epilogue: Two Duelists, One Destination_

_"A duel of this caliber is truly rare Drake. So I'm going to make this one worth everything I've got and more! Jinzo, attack and destroy his Blood Magician! Howling Shock!" Jinzo raised the Howling Sword and then swung with it, sending a stream of blue energy out at the magician. The energy attack was so big that it covered everything else on the field._

_"I'll counter your attack with one hundred and fifty percent! Blood Magician, counterattack with Inferno of Blood!" The crimson robed magician swept his scythe horizontally, sending a wave of red energy right back at Jinzo. The two energies collided and struggled against each other, creating a huge light show that looked like it was going to break the holo-projectors. It was that impressive._

_The two attacks countered each other in every way, and in the end neither could win out. The attacks exploded, covering the field with a dome of light that shielded everything within from sight. Eventually it faded, and nothing was left of the two infinitely powerful monsters. And Rikuo's two cards went to the cemetery. Unfortunately for Drake his hadn't been equipped, so his field was still full of cards._

_"Gold Wind-Up Knight will try for a direct attack!" The toy knight jumped across the field and slashed Drake across the shoulder with its blade. He grunted, but otherwise he didn't admit to any pain. He was a tough person and wouldn't willingly show any weakness. Not that it mattered to Rikuo, as the damage was done all the same. (DLP: 725)_

_"All I've got left in my hand is one card, so I'll set it for later. Now it's your turn Drake." His card appeared next to his original face down card, each to one side of Gold Wind-Up Knight. Then he picked up two of the last three cards in his deck, leaving him with only one draw in the entire game. Meanwhile Drake had to remove two of his own cards from the top of his deck, thereby reducing it in size as well._

_"I've really enjoyed the entire duel Rikuo. Although its about to end I feel that this has truly been the ultimate duel that I've desired for so long. Regardless of the outcome I feel happy about it. Thanks for the duel, now let's see if I can end it!"_

"I've drawn a card that can change the nature of this duel. It won't end it, but who knows what it will accomplish. I summon Magician of the Storm(1600/1400)! The moment he hits the field all of my magic and trap cards are blown away!" Drake's new monster appeared, revealing a monster in a yellow robe with blue lightning bolts on it. There was a crystal at the top of its staff which seemed to contain an electric storm within it.

Lightning arced across Drake's field, blasting his face down cards and his three face-up cards into oblivion. Now he had nothing left on his field except his monster, while Rikuo had two face down cards and a slightly weaker monster. "As long as Magician of the Storm is face-up I must destroy all magic and traps on my field at the beginning of the turn. However it prevents you from activating traps during my turn. I guess it's an even trade."

"Now Magician of the Storm will destroy Gold Wind-Up Knight and your last hope at defeating me!" The magician leveled his staff at the wind-up knight and then launched a bolt of lightning at he other monster. Gold Wind-Up Knight was a perfect conductor for the lightning and it was blown into tiny little pieces. With it Rikuo lost his monster and his chance at victory, because it would require a monster with twenty-four hundred attack points to beat Magician of the Storm and defeat Drake all in one move. (RLP: 750)

"Looks like we're down to the very last turn of the duel doesn't it? If you can't beat me in your next turn you lose, so I don't really have to worry about beating you. It isn't exactly my preferred method of victory, but whatever works. Don't think I won't defend myself though. I set four cards face down and end my turn." His four cards appeared behind the magician, each one giving Rikuo more to worry about. Drake had no hand, but that was remedied as he drew two more cards and then removed two cards from the game.

Rikuo stared at his last card for a moment, and noticed that Drake was also in trouble. About half his deck had been removed from the game already, and he had gone through most of the other half. He had four or five cards left, maybe one or two more than that. But that was all. If Rikuo had possessed just a few more cards in his deck then he could have won by deck out. Drake would have lost in his deck turn because of the removal effect of Supreme Sage of Balance.

_'Can't live on might have beens Rikuo. I have to live in the present, and this is my last turn. If I don't win then he does. So there's no point in waiting around. I've got a duel to win!'_ He drew his final card and added it to his hand, barely looking at it. He already knew what he could do, the two cards he had drawn in his last end phase had given him the method to achieve victory. All he had to do was use it.

"Ready for the last turn Drake? We'll see who the stronger duelist is right now, because I summon Mechanical Engineer-Creative Division(500/500) to the field. I can sacrifice him and discard a card from my hand in order to special summon machines from my cemetery that are alike. I've got only one set to target, and I have to thank you for that. I lost two of these the first time you used Destiny's Way, and now they come back to haunt you. I offer my monster to activate his effect!" He dumped a card from his hand, leaving him with just the card he drew this turn. Meanwhile Mechanical Engineer was fading away to be replaced by Rikuo's newer monsters.

"I've special summoned Bronze Wind-Up Knight(500/500), Silver Wind-Up Knight(1000/1000), and Gold Wind-Up Knight(1500/1500). Now I combine them together in order to form a supreme monster known as Super Toy Knight(3000/3000)!" The three monsters broke into pieces and then merged together to form a towering toy knight with a huge sword in one hand. Its attack was enough to finish off Magician of the Storm and end the duel.

"Super Toy Knight, destroy his magician!" The massive knight stomped across the field and slashed downwards with its blade. However it passed right through Magician of the Storm and nothing happened much to Rikuo's consternation. Drake grinned and showed that he had activated face down cards, and that was the reason.

"I'm sure you remember the beginning of this duel when I locked you out of attacking. Well Soul Barrier and Astral Barrier are back, and they just won me this duel! Magician of the Storm would destroy them in my next turn, but since you'll lose in your end phase, it doesn't matter! The duel is completely over!" Rikuo's shoulders slumped as he saw how his monster's attack had failed and how no attack could win this duel for him. It truly seemed hopeless.

"Sorry Drake, I didn't want it to end this way. But it seems the duel comes down to a single card. The last card of my deck, the one I drew this turn. I didn't want to use it, but now I'm going to have to. I'm not going to lose this duel just because of one card, and I know you're strong enough to last. So here it goes, my ultimate card!" Drake grinned, waiting eagerly for Rikuo to use his card and show him what was in store for him.

"I'm going to end this duel in a bang! Go Hell Meteor! This magic card will end the duel by inflicting a total of four thousand damage to your life points!" Drake's eyes widened in horror as a massive burning ball of flame appeared above them. He couldn't believe the fact that Rikuo had a card that could deal four thousand damage in one strike. It seemed impossible, yet it was coming right for him.

"Don't think it will be that easy! I activate Chaos Mirror! This card will automatically activate one card from my out of play pile at random. Let's see what happens shall we?" He pulled his out of play pile from his pocket and fanned it out. A black mirror appeared in front of him and sat there for a second before the image of a duel monsters card in appeared in it, only its back was facing them.

"Chaos Mirror, reveal the card you've selected!" The card in the mirror flipped around to reveal a quick-play magic card. The image on the card was that of a person holding up a mirror to deflect an attack that was being redirected by a Magic Cylinder. Rikuo didn't know that card at all, so there was no telling what it did.

"My card is Trap Reflector, which will allow me to use the effect of a trap in your cemetery. Since I don't know every trap in your cemetery I guess you'll just have to show it to me won't you?" The wolf demon walked over while Drake walked out to meet him He handed Drake his cemetery pile and watched as the other duelist looked through it, trying to find something useful. Meanwhile Hell Meteor was hovering in mid-air, waiting to strike.

"This is perfect! I choose to activate your Spirit Mirror, thereby reflecting Hell Meteor to you!" The little fairy holding a mirror took shape and blocked the massive meteor. Then it was sent straight towards Rikuo, ready to deal its four thousand damage to the wolf and eliminate him from the game.

Rikuo walked back to his side of the field and then whirled around, already springing into action. "Remember Drake, you aren't the only one with face down cards. I've got two of my own. Here's the first one, Deadly Reversal! This card has an effect sort of like Spirit Mirror, only it reverses the effect of a trap card onto my opponent. So now your own Spirit Mirror that you stole from me will send Hell Meteor at you!"

The little fairy shot across the field and caught Hell Meteor once again, and pushed it towards Drake. Now both duelists had one face down card and Hell Meteor was on the destruction path towards the magician duelist. It would all come down to whoever played their last card best. "I'm not dead yet Rikuo. Activate Take One Chance! This will randomly select one card from my cemetery and play it on the field. I've only got eight cards in there, and you don't know what two are. However at least five of them won't save me. So let's find out what happens!"

A card ejected itself from his cemetery and he picked it up. He extended his arm out, showing the card to Rikuo. The demon duelist looked at it quizzically, also not recognizing it. "The card that's been selected is gonna make this duel even more random. It's Justice of Thought! Now I get to draw cards from my deck till I reach a magic card and then I can instantly activate that card!"

Drake picked up one card and then tossed it aside, seeing it was only Magician's Circle. He picked up another and tossed out Ghost Sorcerer. The third was also White Magic Summoner, meaning it wasn't what he wanted either. He drew the fourth card and showed it to Rikuo, grinning all the while. "The card that has been selected is Mirage Magic! And its effect will absorb the damage from Hell Meteor and add it to my life points! The win is mine!"

Rikuo depressed the button to activate his last card, and knew just as he did so exactly what the outcome would be. He smiled just a little bit, and then declared his move. "My final card is called Hate For One's Self! This trap can only be played if more than two cards have been used in a chain, and it automatically severs the chain! Everything we've done is dead and gone, and Hell Meteor is on its way back to you!"

Drake gasped as the barrier of Mirage Magic vanished and the massive meteor was coming straight towards him. He could feel its horrible energies, and knew that he was about to lose the duel. The threw up his arms and formed a barrier of golden energy. The meteor collided with it and detonated, filling half of the warehouse in hellish flames.

It took a few minutes, but the smoke cleared, and Drake was revealed kneeling on the ground, panting from the exertion of blocking the effect from seriously injuring him. All his cards, all his plays, and it all came down to one overpowered magic card. "It ended. Despite my best efforts and being in the lead most of the duel I lost anyways." (DLP: 0)

A clawed hand dropped to in front of him, and he glanced at it. It was Rikuo, offering him a hand up. He accepted and the demon pulled him to his feet, putting them eye to eye. Or at least as eye to eye as they could get considering about three inches of height difference. "That was a really awesome duel Rikuo. Thanks for giving me the duel I wanted. I may have lost, but at least it was to a fantastic duelist like yourself."

Drake extended his hand. Rikuo smiled and took his hand, shaking it in his firm grip. It had certainly been a magnificent duel. That was for sure. It had been long and deadly, and in the end the outcome had been determined by just one card. Impressive indeed. "You did great as well. There were so many times during this duel that I thought I was going to lose, but I kept on chugging away. I turned the tide in the end, but I can't say that everything was determined by the one card you think it was."

Drake raised an eyebrow and then Rikuo grinned, taking a card out of his duel disk and showing it to Drake. The punk duelist took it from Rikuo and saw exactly what it was. The last card that Rikuo had played, Hate For One's Self. "You may activate this card only if a card chain of two or more cards has been played. End the chain immediately and halt the resolution of every card in that chain. This card cannot be negated in any manner. You must pay one thousand life points to activate this effect."

His jaw dropped as he read the last part of the effect. He read it a second time to make sure he had seen right, and there it was. You must pay one thousand life points to activate this effect. "But that would mean..." The demon general raised his duel disk to display the life point counter, and sure enough it was as the card said. The outcome was not like Drake had thought at all. (RLP: 0)

"Thanks for showing me such a great duel Drake. In the end it looked like neither of us could win. We were even, and I have to respect anybody who can duel me to a tie. Especially someone who kicked my ass most of the duel." They both shared a grin, happy at the outcome. Neither had won, neither had lost. Both kept their duelist pride, and both were satisfied by the amazing duel they had experienced.

"You've spent far too long enjoying the sights. You got the duel you came for, even though you shouldn't have, now lets go home before you do anymore damage." Rikuo and Drake both turned and saw another person walking towards them. It was the blonde haired Dalin, the big guy that Rikuo had met weeks previous. Drake rolled his eyes at the sight of the familiar looking duelist that he'd known for a while now.

"You're a total buzz-kill Dalin. You could at least let me savor this great duel for a while longer by going to the World Tournament and kicking everyone's butt there." Dalin only offered Drake a steadfast glare, his eyes unwavering and determined. Drake didn't have to be a genius to know that Dalin had no intention of changing his mind and bending the rules.

"Fine fine. Hey Rikuo, take this okay. Since I can't go to the World Tournament there's no reason for me to have it. And if I'm ever around again I'll look you up and we can duel again." Rikuo took the piece of paper he had been given by Drake and saw that it was an invitation to the World Tournament, the one that Drake had won in the tournament he challenged Rikuo at. He was just handing Rikuo an opportunity to duel for the title of World Champion.

"If you do ever come around again, you can count on that duel." Having exchanged their goodbyes the two duelist turned away. Dalin and Drake were walking in the direction that Drake's motorcycle was, and Rikuo was heading towards the exit that would lead him on his way home. They were two duelists with two different directions, but they had a lot in common.

Rikuo realized there was something he wanted to say so he whirled around, saying it as he spun. "Where exactly are you going back to anyways?" But there was nobody there to answer his question. Both Drake and Dalin were gone. And when Rikuo ran outside he found no trace of the motorcycle and no sign of them driving away. They had simply...vanished.

"Were they phantoms or something? Did they really exist at all? I guess I'll never know now...but it was fun while it lasted. If I ever do see Drake again I'll make sure to ask him. And then I'll kick his ass in a duel." Smirking the former general bounded up onto the top of the warehouse and started running home, leaping across buildings on his way. His mind was reviewing the duel and possible ways to defeat Drake in the future, and also one what he was going to tell Jasmine when he got home. She'd want to know what had happened and boy did he have a story to tell her.

Then both were gone, and the only sign left that the two had ever met as a large burn mark in an abandoned warehouse. They had both gone their separate ways, two duelists in two different directions. Yet in the end their destination had been the same.

The Ultimate Duel.  
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Author's Notes: And that's all folks. I'd like to thank WolfGeneral for making a cool character and cool story with which I could create a kick ass duel. Rikuo and Jasmine are property of WolfGeneral, while Drake and Dalin are my property.

Gryphmwrm7: As WolfGeneral told me, Hell Meteor is a card that is composed of hellish energy from Sestros, so it shouldn't be played regularly. That's why I had him use it as a last ditch, not as just something to throw around.

WolfGeneral: I hope you were satisfied by the conclusion. That's all I can say.

Original Cards(again)

Drake: Magician of the Storm, Chaos Mirror, Trap Reflector, Justice For All, Ghost Sorcerer, White Magic Summoner

Rikuo: Mechanical Engineer-Creative Division, Bronze Wind-Up Knight, Silver Wind-Up Knight, Gold Wind-Up Knight, Super Toy Knight, Hell Meteor, Deadly Reversal(mine), Hate For One's Self(mine)

Anime Original Cards

Drake: Mirage Magic, Magician's Circle


End file.
